FINISHED IN 2020! Sharward's Partial Garage Conversion

[Fred'e]

Glad to see things are moving along Keith. I get to resume my project on after the first. Woowhoo! My elbow will be healed up.

Glad to see your planning ahead for termites!!!

[sharward]

30,000 views!!

The termite guy was right on time at 7 AM for our consultation. We spent close to an hour discussing the situation. Overall, he's confident that the product will work and that we can accomplish good seals. I'll do some illustrations, maybe sometime this weekend, to show how we plan to tackle this.

I had hoped to have the concrete guy over at the same time, since the two are so closely related in the project. However, he had a family emergency and had to leave town suddenly, so we weren't able to make that happen. However, the termite guy wants to come back with an rep from the pesticide company that makes Impasse to go over some details, so hopefully the concrete guy will be able to make that meeting.

It's a nice way to cap off the year -- things are definitely moving forward, and 2006 is going to be a heck of a year for this project -- so brace yourselves for lots of building, lots of pictures, lots of feedback, and (hopefully) lots of "attaboys"!

Happy new year everyone!

--Keith

[sharward]

OK, here we go -- illustrations of The Official Termite Solution!

I'll be sharing these with The Official Termite Guy and possibly The Official Termite Blocker Manufacturer Rep to make sure it's all kosher.

What do y'all think? (I'm a little hungry for some validation, since, uh, it's my one year anniversary on this frakin' board today! )

[knightfly]

All lookin' good, except for the (missing) sump pump in one corner with its exhaust plumbed into your toiled drain - because if you have THAT much water in the hole, it's probably gonna eventually leak through the rolled up termite condom (last picture) because of hydraulic pressure...

I say this because apparently either your foundation drain system is just something your contractor TOLD you was there, or you're living in a low area. Either way, wet SUCKS. And if there's nowhere LOWER for your ground water to go, then the sewer's the only thing I can think of to dump it in... Steve

[sharward]

As you probably know, we have been pummelled with heavy rains here in Sacramento and throughout the region over the past week or so, and in spite of that the water level has never gotten higher than about 12-14" from the surface of the concrete floor -- which is about the depth of the "new monolithic slab" foundation in all of the images... So, hopefully, ground water won't come up much higher than that.

I will also be having rain gutters added to the east and west sides of the house this year -- something I had hoped to have done last year but my focus has been... well, guess.

I really don't want to have a sump pump because I can't imagine a way to maintain it, let alone a way to evacuate the water. My belief is that the footings are over-excavated and that I can hopefully be allowed to backfill and compact them somewhat, perhaps with crushed rock. This is something I'll be talking with my building department about -- I have yet to visit them with a series of questions.

Anyway, assuming that you agree that the ground water won't be an issue if it doesn't rise to the level of the the seam (which, arguably, would be even stronger than the blocker itself), I think I'll move forward with this plan, barring any objections from the city, the manufacturer's rep, the concrete guy, or any new developments!

If by chance you do not agree, then by all means, type away...

--Keith

[knightfly]

You're right, if it's that far from the surface then compacted gravel under the slab should work fine; my shop is on solid clay (no drainage whatever) and yet the slab has been totally dry since it cured. Secret - 6" minimum of compacted 3/4 - crushed rock under the 6" slab... Steve

[sharward]

Wow -- 6" of crushed rock, eh? I was planning 3-4" minimum... But I'm also going to use the termite blocker which will also act as a damp proof membrane... So I think I'll be OK. Don't you?

[knightfly]

Yeah, should be fine; worst case, you may need to get a dehumidifier and run it during especially wet weather - if you have real wood drum shells, they would probably like 40-42% RH as well as guitars, violins and pianos anyway... Steve

[sharward]

At the very least I'll get one of those great humidity meters you recommended back on page 2 of this here insanely long thread, just to keep an eye on things:

I would leave the gap between inner and outer door frames porous, so the wall cavities can breath - if you run a dehumidifier, leave the outer door closed and inner one open when not in use. The porous gap between doors will keep from having a high vacuum making the doors hard to open as well as allowing some moisture escape.

Guitars and pianos, etc, like a constant humidity of 40-42% - you can get an inexpensice and accurate humidity meter here (most are either expensive or crap)

http://www.natlallergy.com/allergy/prod ... eadid/1526

I bought two of these; they read within 1% of each other in the same location, usually exact. Use them to "dial in" the useless knob on your dehumidifier to a REAL 40%...

Steve, as always, I appreciate your input!

In other news...

. . . the termite guy wants to come back with an rep from the pesticide company that makes Impasse to go over some details . . .

I called my termite guy on the way to work this morning. He had already left a message for the Impasse rep two days ago and he hadn't yet heard back from her... So he said he was going to follow up and possibly leave another message for her after he hung up with me. So, at this point I'm just waiting, waiting, waiting...

[sharward]

I just found this great video on BobVilla.com that demonstrates the Impasse barrier!

• View high bandwidth RealVideo (268Kbps)
  View low bandwidth RealVideo (<56Kbps)

[sharward]

Also, I did talk to my termite guy Friday afternoon -- he did finally get in touch with the rep, who will be getting back to him with answers to his questions. The rep also indicated that she would checking to see if the product is "still" available, which has me a bit concerned that it might not be anymore!

That has me considering a "Plan B," just in case. I'm contemplating this "Tubes In The Wall" system, which is offered by a pest control company that my wife and I are already using at our house. (Note that our house does not have this system installed -- but we do receive regular service from the same company.)

For obvious reasons, I prefer a "barrier" solution to a "treatment" solution...

[dbyboth]

For obvious reasons, I prefer a "barrier" solution to a "treatment" solution...

Keith,
If the impasse blocker turns out to be unavailable, you might consider a termite barrier sand. They basically work because when a termite tries to dig through it the sand collapses on them. It has been proven to be an effective and environmentally safe, and long term way to protect from termites. Look here:

http://www.utoronto.ca/forest/termite/sand-bar.htm

and here:

http://www.5star-termite.com/ctSand.htm

and here, specific to Northern California

http://nature.berkeley.edu/lewis/fieldcompa.pdf

google "termite barrier sand" and you will get lots more info on this.

...db

[sharward]

Thanks for the tip, db. I was hoping I wouldn't have to go down an alternative road, but I may have to do that or something else, because...

The product was quietly discontinued by the manufacturer.

The reason cited was burn injuries sustained by some installers while heat seaming.

My termite guy is waiting for the Syngenta rep to get back to him with a name of a similar product by another company. (I'm predicting the answer will be Kordon, which is what our Aussie buddie "hoddo" originally suggested I look at.)

Thanks to Google, I discovered a third player in this field -- a French product called Termifilm. I don't think it's available in the US though...

I have my doubts on whether the specially sized sand granules db mentioned would work in my case, since I'm fairly certain the most vulnerable areas would be along the edge of the existing foundation.

I'm really leaning towards Pest Defense Tubes under the Slab® now. (Technically, I think it would be around the slab in my case.) I'll try to give them a call today.

If I can't stop 'em from coming in, at least I can kill 'em when/if they do.

--Keith

[sharward]

I'll be getting a consultation/quote for the Pest Defense Tubes under the Slab® system on Monday.

This weekend I hope to make some progress on forms and foundation preparation!

[sharward]

My pest control person arrived right on time today. Actually, there were two -- one whose specialty is working with homebuilders for their Tubes Under The Slab & Tubes In The Wall product, and the other a very experienced termite inspector and technician. Having the two of them on the premises proved to be very illuminating.

First of all, I'm reassured that I'm not overreacting to the perils of termites in my area. While it is extremely unlikely for termites to tolerate the extremely wet conditions we have right now, the opposite is true in the summer months. Bottom line, I am justified in worrying about this stuff and it's a very good thing I'm incorporating this issue into my design.

After extensive discussion, we came to rest on a proposed solution that is kind of a hybrid of what they offer and something that is "home-grown."

First of all, the soil should be treated prior to the concrete pour. This can/should be done a day or so before the pour, once the forms are set and the sub-base is compacted. Ideally the soil will not be disturbed much (if at all) following treatment. Their minimum charge for soil treatments is normally $750, but they said they'll probably be able to knock $100-200 off that price, given that I'm already a customer (and have been for years) and the fact that the area to be treated is so relatively small.

However, that soil treatment is only expected to last about 5 to 6 years. Obviously retreating the soil would be difficult or impossible once the construction is done. The idea of having someone bore holes in my new slab years down the line makes me shudder. So what we landed on was a solution that would allow them (or any pest control company really) to retreat the soil via PVC plumbing that I will install ahead of time.

The theory is driving some PVC piping down into the soil a few inches every few feet, with a service port (or several, depending on how many runs I do) that would allow them to hook up their pressurized equipment to inject the soil with Termidor every five years or so.

While this is not a barrier solution that I was hoping for, it does promise to deliver a known effective product to the area and it makes it possible to maintain the level of effectiveness for decades.

See the illustration below that demonstrates the concept.

This afternoon my other termite guy called me. (He's the one who is an authorized installer of the barrier product that is no longer available.) He said he talked with a scientist-type at the manufacturer and they came up with an idea that I should consider -- having someone spray the entire area with a rubber-type polymer, similar to a spray-on truck bedliner (but more pliable) that would work as a thick seal before pouring the concrete -- no termiticidees, just a thick barrier that would prevent moisture and termites for decades. I found this idea very intriguing. The only thing is, I'm a little uncomfortable by the experimental nature of such a plan. I have some concerns too about how pliable the material would be after it cured and whether it might become a flanking path. It also seems like it would be really expensive to get someone to do. I'm also uncertain how I would avoid the "form stakes penetrating the barrier" issue I grappled with at length with the previous plan... ...so, for those reasons I'm leaning towards the "treat now and install a PVC 'termiticide sprinkler system' for subsequent treatments" approach.

As always, your thoughts are welcome.

It's kind of disappointing that I let this three-day weekend get away from me without doing any real work on the studio... ...but, barring any unforeseen objections or dramatic changes to this plan, I should be able to get rolling again next weekend!

--Keith