Treating Timber

[Deimos]

Early next year I will need to treat a load of timber in the

roof (i.e. joists, purlins, etc.).  I am

considering doing this myself or getting somebody in to do it.  Form a commercial aspect, getting somebody

in would be more expensive but I would probably get a guarantee but that guarantee

would probably have 101 exclusion clauses and be useless so not a massive

issue.

From the treatment aspect, doing it myself I would need to

purchase sprayer, mask, protective clothing, etc. (full face mask ?) and the

chemical (probably from brico at brico prices).

A couple of questions:

What equipment would I require to spray the stuff ?

What would I need to protect myself (spraying the stuff) ?

Is the brico chemical as strong and effective as the stuff

the professionals would be using ? (or a safer but less powerful stuff)

Should I treat the roof before or after the roofer has

repaired tha damage done ?

 

Reason id worm (to be confirmed) in Oak.  I’m assuming it’s the sapwood part not

heartwood and it seems a limited area (but I’ll treat everywhere).  Assuming the wood is soft enough for worm, I’m

assuming it will be soft enough for the treatment to soak in as well (and where

its too hard it will be too hard for the work).  Unlikely to be termites but I will be checking what is best with

the roofer before starting treating, etc.

Many  thanks

Ian

[andyh4]

Ian,

I did my roofs a couple of years ago - so here's my advice:

 

What equipment would I require to spray the stuff ? - a simple garden spray (5litre or bigger).  We had a couple and I found the more expensive one with a pressure gauge was better because I could see when I had to pump it up again from the gauge rather than wait until the spray became a trickle.

What would I need to protect myself (spraying the stuff) ?  Disposable gloves and overalls (recommended with a hood), goggles, face mask with a filter for aerosols - The jobbies which clip over the mouth and nose are for dust - better than nothing but not recommended.

Is the brico chemical as strong and effective as the stuff the professionals would be using ? (or a safer but less powerful stuff)  Not sure.  The professionals will use pressure injection, you will just be sprayig the outside.  What I can say is that I have seen professional builders (as opposed to treatment companies) buying the bricomarche stuff.  Use the spirit based rather than the water based materials since these will soak in further - but are more smelly and to be honest more toxic and less environmentally friendly - but we are after all trying to exterminate the little *******rs.   The tin says its good for termites too, but in that case I would call in the pros.

Should I treat the roof before or after the roofer has repaired tha damage done ?  Do it when you have maximum access to the wood.  I suggest however that anything sprayed should not be exposed to rain - which might leach out some of your valuable poison.   I sprayed everything 3 times making sure that each coat went on before the previous one dried.  Pay particular attention to end grain and to joints between bits of timber (which is where you end up with non-exposed end grain - a spot loved by capricorn so I am led to believe.) Really flood these areas.

I have estimated that it cost me about 10% of what a professional company would have done - plus of course my time - but as I said above they will pressure treat so the poison goes in deeper, and as you said you get a guarantee - at least they will come back and treat again if there is a problem - which is probably all the guarantee is worth..

 

[Dave&Olive]

hi

        yes not a nice job but .....yes you can diy  it with good results. spelling might be a bit out on this but xylothene is the jobby    name you can get it in spirit base or water based. those people who think they can just light one of them smoke bombs every year are living in cockoo land, donot waste money on these .

          but wait untill june- july  you will see  the price drop a great deal . price now say €75 -€100 for 25ltrs price will drop to half this for 30ltrs so wait .

          use a back pack type garden spray and a good mask with the filters on the side ,and good marrigold type gloves , brush down all the purilins and chevrons first " i have a dust extractor for my wood work so i used that but.."  and give it 3 coats like it says .

       I bought 3x 25 ltr tins at first time out at the silly price next time i went it was on promo so bought 5x30ltr ones this was for 6 large attic rooms so you can base your price on that.

i have only used the water based stuff so can only comment on that ,it soaks into the wood very well and gives no well not a lot of smell.

you will know which one to get just look at he pic on the drum it says somthing like pour charpente et ?????

     good luck dave

        ps if you have a leak on your sprayer on it runs down your arm it takes the top 3 layers of skin off

       ouch

[Deimos]

Many thanks.  As the

wood is quite bad I will check with a roofer and may treat (at least a couple

of applications) before the price drops).  After the comments I will probably be doing it myself.

Many thanks for the advice.

Ian

[Gabe]

Ian,

Did you do this in the end ? If so I would be interested to know how you got on as am considering it myself.

Gabe

[Deimos]

[quote user="Gabe"]

Ian,

Did you do this in the end ? If so I would be interested to know how you got on as am considering it myself.

Gabe

[/quote]

No, but I’m going to.

 

Roofer came round to look at the damaged bit and said it was

fine, probably been like it for years, etc. but it was a good idea to treat as

some of the sapwood is “suffering” though not significantly structural.  I also have an attic I want to convert to

treat.

For me it’s a bit cold at the moment so will probably start

in the spring (cold problems are me and my fingers, not aware of any issues with

temperature and the treatment stuff).

Roofer said to use oil based treatment (he said better than

the water based stuff) and to open everything and only work for half an hour at

a time with long breaks between.

I had a treatment company come round to look at treating one

roof but they were the type of company “as seen on Watchdog”.  Quoted 5000€ then started the “we are in the

area”, “economy of scale”, “I’ll phone my boss”, etc.  when I said there was no way I would be deciding there and then

they left (pretty well immediately).

 

If you start before me, I’d certainly appreciate any tips.

Ian

[Gabe]

Ian, maybe this might help both of us then:

To all;  If I am going to spray the roofing  timbers in the house, should I not treat all other wood as well i.e. roofing timbers in adjoining barn, all wooden floorboards, floor joists, beams etc. Otherwise won't any woodworm just avoid the treated timber and head elsewhere. This means a heck of a lot of work, but resigned to doing it if required, for piece of mind. If I take this approach and just spray everything and anything wooden, how long before we can safely go back into the house again. I was thinking of doing it in April as our next visit would be in August and then permanent in December.

Any thoughts

Gabe