old wooden posts and flooring

[ban1216]

Ok so we have bought a house in the middle of lahansai and now i have a dilema
the upstairs is atypical thai style wooden structure with 12 inch square posts attached to the concrete posts below and the flooring is all exceptionaly nice teak
i can only find one joist end that has been attacked by the dreaded termites so the big question is
Do i rip out all the beautiful wood and replace it with steel and concrete or can the termites be kept at bay effectively by timber treatments ??

[davu]

We just did two similar jobs in the family compound here. The way we did it was to take down all the wood, examine it, plane it down, refurbish it (it was cut and shaped by hand many years ago), give it termite treatment and put it back up. The Thais won't be thinking outside of 10 to 15 years life for anything they build, and at my age I don't have any problem with that. Putting back the wood does need some carpenting skills, luckily my SIL was appreciative of my way of doing things, and is using my chisels, hand and power planes and chain saws. Up to you really but I wouldn't worry too much about termites.

[ban1216]

thats the kind of answer i was kind off hoping for and as i intend to replace the steel roof with concrete tiles i do need to add extra timbers to this structure anyway everybody here is paranoid about termites and when i speak with some thai builders they say if i use wood it will be gone in a year .which doesnt add up to me as the structure is already 15 years old and still solid

[davu]

Maybe you have a termite problem in your area.
We have two rice stores on concrete stilts, built with wood, still shabbily but solidly serving their purpose after 20 years, the wife's old house, built like your problem house, got renovated a year ago as I mentioned above. It originally had a grass roof and walls, you could see through the floorboards. Wood houses tend to look a bit shabby after a year or two, but Thais don't seem to have ingested the concept of maintenance.  Termites can be got at, there are treatments that should keep them off for a decade or two.
Maybe there will be other opinions, this is just mine.

[JasonB]

Hi Ban,have you considered refurbishing the teak,and making a beautiful kitchen bench top,or dinning tables etc,in Australia,and many countries now,GOOD teak is like gold,and one of the most appealing timbers around.I also remember something about teak not really appealing to termites,they prefer softer woods,like pine.Regards JasonB.

[aparasher]

ban1216.

You may need to strengthen concrete footings if you want to replace the tin roof with tiles. Also try to grow banana tree near house after treatment is done. I believe it will help with termite problem if there are any in the ground and you can also use the fruit.

[ban1216]

all excellent advice thankyou and we do have a few banana trees close to the property i will be using teak for the kitchen tops as i have some old teak from my wifes grandmums house but i kind off wanted to leave the floor where it is and treat it and bring out its natural beauty