Question regarding wood treatments available in Medellin Colombia

dwmte7 says on Mar 17, 2009, 05:02:

we always washed wood down with gasolene and it worked fine. it makes the wood taste bad. you can also spray it with black flag and that leaves a coat that seems to stay forever.

patriarch

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Aji1 says on Mar 17, 2009, 06:40:

Ken,

I would be worried on two fronts. One is that X material should have been sunk a few to several feet deep into a base of holes filled with concrete depending on weigh of structure to be supported. Secondly, to do a soil treatment now would still require digging out a lot of the dirt around the support pillars of bamboo so then a treatment of potent chemical could be applied. In the old days it would have been treated with chlordane or with creosote, such as what use to be used termites (chlordane) and on telephone poles (creosote) here in the US. Both of these are harsh chemicals to work with.

Structurally the bamboo should be able to support the weight. I have seen bamboo scaffolding used in China up to 8 stories high. But there is a simple formula for this.

wood cellulose soil contact = Termite dinner bell.

or

wood cellulose soil contact water (wet soil) = Termite fast food take out

In my opinion there is no replacement for proven performance. That would be wood treated with CCA or similar prior to construction would be the gold standard. Maybe using something like Ipe wood for the soil contact would work. Not sure what kind of life expectancy Ipe has with subterranean type applications. It is a tropical hardwood and I am sure it is available there but I forget the local name.

It will come down sooner or later.

Best...

I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

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kenblanquito says on Mar 17, 2009, 07:20:

Dear All,
Many thanks for your comments here which are all highly constructive

Frank, personally I would have treated the wood first and I have a feeling that a "cowboy" was involved in this work.
The white treatment that you have mentioned may well be the Borate-based treatment that I am searching for, or an equivalent. I think my friends are victims of having a job done without being present to supervise.

dwente, as a short-term remedy, the gasoline trick may help. What is "Black Flag", never heard of it.

Aji1, I seem to recall that this "structure" is not supporting much weight, just a plastic-type "roof cover" and fortunately it has not been embedded into the ground to any great extent. Your comments re the bamboo dinner are very logical. What is CCA?

I am going to advise the people to call the "builder" back to deal with it. It was indeed very irresponsible to use a bamboo which had not been pretreated prior to use. Whether they will have any success with this is another matter. If not, I think I have a job to do, which is applying something to stop the progress of these beasts before they destroy the stuff as I know these people are naive with regard to health and safety and I would fear for their wellbeing.

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Aji1 says on Mar 17, 2009, 08:04:

Hey Ken,

CCA is Chromated Copper Arsenate

Yes, that is from arsenic!

Here in the USA we recently changed from CCA ( arsenic in playground construction was not too cool, go figure) to ACQ, Alkaline Copper Quartenary. It does not have the arsenic but it has a sh*t load more copper in it which makes it twice as expensive now. You also need to use hot dipped galvanized nails in the construction ( with ACQ treated) because the copper is so corrosive it will make the heads of regular nails pop off eventually. Not cool, especially in a weight bearing application.Use electrode plated galvanized nails with CCA treated wood.

Trabajo chimbo! Got to love it, NOT!

I hope I was of some help.

I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

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dwmte7 says on Mar 17, 2009, 08:08:

black flag.....just like it says....it's a nasty poisonous aerosol that kills em dead. it leaves anoily base on the surface and nothing want's to go around. yes, gas works. poor it an the bamboo and on the cement bases. it leaces a trace that no good termite will touch.

patriarch

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dwmte7 says on Mar 17, 2009, 08:45:

frank has a cement extraction business he'ld like to recommend................. just kidding.

patriarch

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kenblanquito says on Mar 17, 2009, 10:24:

Super information from you good people: many thanks for your trouble!
At least now I can offer some decent advice to my friends.
Cheers

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dwmte7 says on Mar 17, 2009, 10:29:

you sound like a country boy frank.

the way we protected wood....first, for fence posts, we used red wood. and when we put them in the ground, we built bonfires in the field and would charcoal the outer 1/2 inch of the post that went in the ground...no rot. and as for the footing on the pole barns...you got that right. if folks use concrete, the pole/post has to extend below the level of the crete. so there's natural moisture drainage.....kerosene, creosote, gasolene, diesel, arsenic. anything that makes the wood venenoso to the pests works fine.

d

patriarch

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dwmte7 says on Mar 17, 2009, 12:36:

well, being from californias san juaquin valley and farming large acrage there, we used red wood. kinda naturally rot proof, but once charred, is'll last 25 years or more. i've seenposts that been in for 50-70 years as long as the soil has a good drain to it. don't get much outta pine, no matter what yuo do to preserve it. it's just to short lived and vulnerable.

where were you building pole barns? using creosote poles?pretty common where i came from, with corregated tin roofs.

we did several thousand acres of alfalfa in calif and nevada and used pole barns a lot.
d

patriarch

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Catfish35 says on Mar 17, 2009, 12:46:

What part of the Mighty Valley do you hail from?
Know it well from Bakersfield to Sac-town

Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end."

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Escape Artist says on Mar 17, 2009, 13:24:

We use a 50/50 mix of used motor oil and diesel fuel. Been using it for years and have never had a bug problem.

EA

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dwmte7 says on Mar 17, 2009, 14:03:

good recipe artist.

fish. well i went first to sac city, then tosac state. then the mendocino art institute. et al we grew tomatoes and alfalfa out around dixon, woodland, winters. down around fresno, we grew some tree gruit more alfalfa. mother was in the botony dept at uc. davis. i ended up at berkeley after several other colleges. did my fellowship at ucla. grew up both in dixon, fresno, clovis. been 'stuck in lodi' know all about 'fat city' (kettleman city) (remember 'east bay grease' by the tower of power?)

viva la raza home boys down in visalia grand folks are buried in armona back side of hanford. oh and bakersfield.home of the roughnecks. interesting place, bakersfield and porterville...

yosemite was like my back yard. kings river, american river, sacramento river. placer ville, truckee, sutters fort/.sutters mill
king ranch where the keep out signs tell ya 'you'll be shot on sight'..
auburn, john woolman school

spent a year in hawaii hanging out at the u. of hawaii and know el cajon well.

i'm a california boy....been there done that.

patriarch

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Catfish35 says on Mar 17, 2009, 21:58:

I also love California. After I was shot back in 92. I repaired myself in Cali. Have a lot of family North and South. I drove a truck for Gallo and humped Rt 99 and The Grapevine too many times. among many other cities. Growing up I lived in Carmel and St Monica.
But chewed alot fog and dirt devils on that backbone rt 99. Just curious..thanks!

Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end."

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Catfish35 says on Mar 17, 2009, 22:01:

And yes..Bakersfield is a very interesting place..can be West V.A. sorta of Cali..
May get blasted for that! however, I don't think we have many PBH posters from West Ginnie..yuck yuck!

Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end."

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dwmte7 says on Mar 18, 2009, 05:15:

after losing our business in bev hills to the rodney king riots...i just didn't want to rebuild and start over there. i just wanted out. so i told the mrs lets go up to the valley and open a country store. for some reason, we chose rosedale highway just outside of bakersfield on the way out to hwy 5. it was a great success. everyevening, thess roughnecks who lived all around the store would come over and shoot the b.s. and wonder what folks like stella and i were doing there...we were a bit different than the locals. anyway, they got to enjoy comin by and telling all about thier lives and work in the oil fields, time in jail and so on. very interesting.

and frank...hawaii...oh man. in the year i was there, i started out living in slip 69 in the aliwai yacht harbor in front of the ilikai hotel at waikiki. then up to punchbowl. all the time hooked up with the box (university) although i'/we weren't taking classes. we hung out with the students from the east west center.

i spent time on maui, molokai, kauaii and oahu never made it to the big island. interesting memories of mauii...la hina, mckenna, haiku, loved maui....kauii, nice, but too fuckin wet. molokai...totally wierd, the leper colony, halava bay, livin in the pinapple fields and eatin nothing but pinapples.

just the other night, i saw a special on oahu...and they spent some video time on the north shore...i remember north shore real good...THE PIPE. this old surfer was talkin about the pipe and said, if you can make it through with out wipin out, you got braggin rights for life.....NO FRICKEN SHIT. it's death defying. just watch any film of the lucky ones comin through. then see some footage of those broken brothers who ate the coral. sad.

i loved it....braggin rights for life.

d

oh, CALIFORNIA! , THE ONLY PLACE ON EARTH TO COMPARE WITH COLOMBIA. growin up in california, gives you braggin rights, you're a ready made survivor...you can do stuff you shouldn't and come through alive and better than you were as a person before you started. yesserie....california is incredible.

after all my work around the world and living in places everywhere...and ending up in medallo. i always said, there's two incredible cities in the world......los angeles and medellin.

fish....you must remember cannery row.... i go way back there. had a sandal shop in my early years of college in pacific grove...the sun never shines in pacific grove.

had a business on main street in santa monica, and malibu and palm springs heaven on earth. i loved running businesses in los angeles for about 25 years. heaven.pretty people, pretty cars/fast cars, beautiful homes, fantastic fast lane, lots of party favors. what a treat that was. i made a fortune and partied my ass off for years. raised a hand full of children alone there and lived to tell about it. GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME......SANTA MONICA OR MEDALLO

D

patriarch

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dwmte7 says on Mar 18, 2009, 08:39:

how'ld you get on niihau? ain't that the robinson property and no body's allowed to come or go? i've heard shitloads of stories since i first went to hawaii in '63.

well in it's own way, niihau is like no other place on earth.....now YOU have braggin rights for life. i never met anyone else that's ever been there and know shitloads of folks in hawaii.

have a buddy on maui in haiku he owns a bed and breakfast...his name is narish. a hindu guy. he owns or owned a couple of businesses in santa monica...the firehouse and the rose. he and his buddy who opened the rose have been friends for years. narish fell in love with haiku and dropped out. so maybe he's still there. his partner iin santa monica was manhar.

damn i'm getting old, that was damn near 50 years ago! yikes. watch out folks...this shit will happen to you too. no body gets outta here alive. nobody.

patriarch

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dwmte7 says on Mar 18, 2009, 10:27:

since you're not gonna tell me straight out, i'll ask. so how did you get permission????? who's butt did you kiss?

patriarch

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Catfish35 says on Mar 18, 2009, 10:33:

Is one of my favorite sayings..."None of us our getting outta here alive!!"

Yes, Cannery Row. How it has changed out there but hasn't. Carmel. One of the only cities in the world where you can park a Bentley next to a beat up old VW Bug. For fear the guy with the Bug has 20 times more money than you! jajaja I love it!

I totally agree with you on SO Cal. when you get it in your blood forget about it! Nothing like a nice crisp sunny Saturday morning warming up, total blue sky and smell of the salt air.

Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end."

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Escape Artist says on Mar 18, 2009, 11:58:

I forgot to mention in my previous post if you don't want the wood stained too dark then simply add a bit more diesel fuel to the mix and it will lighten up the color but still give the wood plenty of protection from both the critters and rotting from the moisture.

EA

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dwmte7 says on Mar 18, 2009, 16:31:

if i can talk the oldest kid into some sponsorship...i live off s.s. these days and that sucks....my oldest is a hyper successful young man who has more than he needs and helps me in my dreams now and then. he's the only one who still hunts. kinda like 'frank buck'....je je.

let me run this by him.....

d

patriarch

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