Staycations

Are Staycations over? Are we never going to think of staying close to home or at home for our vacations? Afterall, aren’t we almost all vaccinated? Doesn’t that mean that Staycations are a thing of the past? Aren’t we all ready to start venturing out and discovering things again?

I am going to go out on a limb… and say “Yes!”, I want to be done with hibernation and staying indoors. We all want to enjoy others company and the banter of what is going on with the world. We want the small business owners to thrive again. A Pandemic can shut down our World, but interestingly enough the underground world of pest and termites could care less what is happening with our World. This brings me to remind everyone that simply because we have outside intruders in our world that we are trying to block, does not mean that these pests and termites are going on a Staycation. These pests want to thrive no matter what. Here is a term not used very often, “Eusocial”.  To be Eusocial is to know how to work together as a colony to evolve (1). Termites are the highest order of hard-working, most successful insect groups on the planet. Can you imagine being so in-synch with your fellow teammates that you know exactly what to do and when to do it? That is a perfect Eusocial Society. As humans, I doubt we would ever obtain this type of Utopic society, but we can only imagine how effective we would be as insects as we would be humans!

Humans can only try and be the best possible, but we like to find different opinions and have discussions on what is right or wrong, or how the world can be better. We like to agree to disagree. I know one thing we can all agree on is how to keep termites and pests out of our structures.

TERM Barriers are here to help. We at TERM have 21 years of science-based research at 5 southern universities all located in the deep termite areas, where finding a termite is easy and its “when” not “if” a termite will find you first.  When designing a structure, start with a good foundation, one that is designed to not only keep water/air/moisture out, but also pests and insects. Termites are the most invasive insect and the tiniest. Designing for this termite exclusion only takes a few extra steps and not too much more money. There are several products that we make here in Texas to keep these pests out:

New Materials:

TERM Sealant Barrier – caulk and trowel grade, single component product will seal off all pipe penetrations and gaps on the top of slab level.  Termites and other insects cannot chew, eat, or penetrate the sealant (use in lieu of stainless mesh cast in concrete around pipes)

Weep Screens – stainless steel termite screen,  melt-welded to plastic weep tubes, installed by the mason in lieu of traditional weeps, prevents all insects from entry at this very vulnerable spot.

Particle Barrier – Precisely sized stone particulates installed 4” out and 4-5” deep around any exposed face concrete slab or pier, thus blocking entry to structure from sub-terranean termites.  Termites cannot bite, chew, move aside or crawl through these particles.  Can be installed post or pre-occupancy by a Pest Management Professional.

Improved Materials (that prevent termites biting and gaining access while excluding water, air, moisture and termites):

TERM Sill – Adhered to the top of slab before sill is attached, protecting the sill from termites. When run long into the wall cavity, the TERM Flash can be lapped over creating an ever tighter seal against air/moisture/termites.

TERM Flash – Through-Wall Flashing Membrane – self-adhered flexible flashing with termite sealant built into the membrane.

TERM Underseal – Waterproofing Membrane – fully adhered underslab pre-installed waterproofing for commercial or residential use (requires trained applicators).

TERM Foundation Waterproofing– peel and stick Waterproofing Membrane – post applied, self-adhered waterproofing with termite sealant built in.

TERM Window/Door flash tape – also for Sheathing Board Seam Tape – 40 mil self-adhered tape with termite sealant built in.