For many years consumers have enjoyed property protection against infestation because building regulations have required protection of the whole building or home through the use of simple physical barriers or low cost chemical barrier systems, such as soil treatment with organochlorine insecticides.
Changes in building regulations and the banning of effective organochlorine insecticides for soil treatment has meant that new home owners, builders and designers now need to choose between:
- The traditional approach of providing whole building protection against termite infestation, or
- The partial solution of using termite resistant structural materials, which will avoid termite attack of timber building elements, but will not provide any barrier to termite infestation.
Building owners, regulators, lending authorities and insurers recognise the benefits of providing effective termite protection to the building, including the structural framework, joinery, and furniture. In all states and territories of Australia, the building legislation calls up the Building Code of Australia (BCA). The BCA requires some form of protection if there is a threat of termite attack. Where no threat exists, no protection is needed.
Read and download more about termite protection and related publications on WoodSolutions here.
WoodSolutions members can download the document below to review a detailed discussion on best practice methods for protecting buildings from termites.