Termite Management in Construction

About this course.

Subterranean termites are one of the most serious risks to Australian buildings because they feed on the cellulose in timber and other building materials, they attack concealed elements out of sight, they can cause extensive structural damage before they are detected, and they are a permanent feature of the environment across much of the country. The reason the response is called "management" rather than a "fix" is that no treatment can make a building permanently immune: termites live in the surrounding soil and vegetation, they are persistent and adaptable, and any protection put in place must be maintained, monitored and renewed over the life of the building rather than installed once and forgotten.

Understanding the risk starts with understanding the insect. Subterranean termites — commonly, if inaccurately, called white ants — typically nest in the soil, in tree stumps or root systems, or within trees, and forage outward in search of food. Their food is cellulose, which they find in structural and decorative timber, but also in paper, cardboard and other plant-based materials. They need moisture and generally avoid the open air, so they travel within the timber they are eating and build covered mud galleries, or "leads", to bridge gaps and cross materials they cannot eat, such as concrete and brick. This concealed way of life is exactly what makes them so damaging: a colony can be working inside a wall frame, a bearer or a door jamb, hollowing the timber from within while leaving a thin, intact surface, so that nothing appears wrong until the damage is advanced.