wood Archives - Pest Control Philippines

August 24, 2017January 4, 2023

The Best Materials to Protect Wood

What are the best materials that can be used to protect wood?

Apply a solution – Chemical-based solutions are effective in protecting the wood from pests, fungi, and the elements.
Give your wood a treatment – Wood treatments are effective in protecting your wood, and are best applied in larger structures and buildings.
Apply some varnish – Varnish is the simplest and most effective solution to protect your wood from termites.
Decay and rot-resistant woods – There are different kinds of wood that are highly resistant against the elements, which make them good building material.

Amongst all of the building materials, wood has been one of the most common material to use. In fact, it has become the go-to material when it comes to building structures, especially in countries where forests are abundant. Despite the many advantages of wood, it is a building material that is very vulnerable to pests like termites.

To keep the pests away, people have developed various forms of pest and termite control methods to make sure that their wooden structures are kept safe and remain standing. They have also created new materials that can help protect wood from pests and from other natural elements as well. To give you a few examples, here are some of the best materials you could use to help protect your wood:

Apply a solution

With the increasing demand for wood protection materials, various companies have created chemical-based solutions that help protect wooden structures and furniture. Using it is similar to painting a wall, which means it will give the wood a light coat that will help protect it from insects and fungi that can ultimately damage it.

There are also different kinds of solutions that cover up all the small holes in the wood so that it will not absorb any form of liquid, which can soften up the wood. It is important to keep in mind that these solutions must only be placed after the initial coat of paint has already been applied. If you are looking for a more affordable option, buying a wood protection solution is one of them.

Give your wood a treatment

While applying chemical based solutions are effective in smaller structures and furniture, you will need a different method when it comes to larger structures. For those kind of structures, you may use treated wood, or give your building a treatment to protect your wood from the elements.

Treated wood would help make it last longer and make it safe against wood damage, fungi, moisture, and insects. Despite its effectiveness, its main drawback is that applying the treatment takes time, can be quite expensive, and requires a few good coats of sealer so that it would be safe for people to come into contact and breathe in the vicinity.

These treatments and solutions come in liquid and powdered form. For decay-resistant wood, solutions may not be applied anymore. It is always important to keep in mind to follow the procedures carefully to make sure the application of the treatment would be a safe process.

Apply some varnish (on your furniture)

One of the most efficient and cost-effective solutions to protect your furniture from pests and fungi is by giving your furniture a few coats of varnish. Varnish is a solution that gives your furniture some shine, while also applying a protective layer over the wood that will protect it from pests and liquids.

You can also apply it on your other wooden items in your home, like musical instruments (light coats only, as it may alter the sound of the instrument), and house decorations. Varnish is also readily available in hardware stores, and cost less than chemical-based wood sealing solutions. If you are looking for a quick and effective solution, getting some varnish would keep your furniture safe.

Use decay and rot-resistant woods

When building a wooden structure, it is best to keep in mind that there are kinds of wood that are highly resistant to decay and rotting, allowing them to last longer and withstand the elements better. Hardwoods fall under this group. They are very sturdy and highly durable.

Examples of highly resistant wood include cedar, redwood, chestnut, white oak, bald cypress, Pacific yew, black locust, juniper, post oak, burr oak, mesquite, catalpa, and red mulberry. For the Philippines, highly resistant types of wood include narra, mahogany, molave, kamagong, yakal, tanguile, and mangkono – which is being considered to be the hardest type of wood in the country.

Keep in mind of these types of wood, especially when you are intending to have a structure built, as these are strong and sturdy enough to withstand various natural elements and certain kinds of pests. For a more complete protection, you can apply protective solutions to make sure that they would be completely protected.

Key Takeaway

Wood protection is essential to keep pests away from your wooden possessions. As you can see, you can ensure your home (or building) to remain safe and sturdy by using the right materials.

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October 31, 2014October 27, 2020

5 Cool Pieces of Furniture Made of Wood

There are many ways to deal with termites. The quickest involves calling the best termite control in your area, among other things. You can also use unconventional means like infesting the termite colony with ants and watch them slug it out (although replacing one pest with another might not be such a good idea) or get exotic animals to do the job for you (which is actually illegal and a horrible thing to do). In any case, it’s very important to protect anything wooden in your home from these vermin.

Aside from areas in your house that have wooden parts, you should also watch out for your wooden furniture and other pieces. Some of these are probably antique and might be hard to replace, if not totally impossible. Additionally, some really neat stuff may catch your eye when going shopping; better make sure your house has no termites if you buy anything that comes from trees. Here are some awesome wooden furniture that you’d definitely want to protect from pest attacks:

Wooden Goddess Lakshmi 18-Inch Statue

This wooden sculpture is hand carved from high-quality mango tree wood that’s imported from Tamil Nadu, India. It is 18 inches high, with a base width of 10 inches, a base depth of 4 inches, and a net weight of 7 pounds. As you can see, the goddess holds a pair of lotus flowers, one in each hand, to symbolize fertility, prosperity, and beauty. By the way, Lakshmi is the Hindu Goddess of wealth; having a statue of her in your home is believed to invite prosperity and abundance to your house and family. Wooden sculptures of other Hindu deity are also available.

Louisa Corbels Dining Table

86 inches wide and 31 inches high, this traditional-style wooden dining table is made from eco-friendly materials such as repurposed and recycled wood. It is constructed at a family-owned factory in Peru, using techniques passed on from generation to generation. The effort it took to make it gives it an elegant finish and coloring. These facts coupled with a tag price of USD 3,650 makes this dining table one furniture you can’t afford to leave to the mercy of the termites.

Rustic Wood Bed Bunks

This unique set of beds is made from medium and large tree branches, cut accordingly, put together to create the bed frame, and painted with varnish to give it luster while maintaining its wooden elegance. Sleeping on it is extremely comfortable, and it makes you feel like you’re in a remote and cozy wooden cabin in the mountains. It’s the very furniture you want to protect from termites; heck, you and your bunkmate probably don’t want to share your bedroom with anyone else if this is your bed!

Philippine Narra Sofa Set

Narra is the national tree of the Philippines. A purple and fragrant timber wood, it is ideal for making furniture and its durability is such that it can be passed on by its current owners to their heirs. Narra wood furniture is prevalent in the Philippines and nearby countries, and it is coveted by many others. This living room showcase comes with a pair of side arm chairs as well as a small but wide coffee table. It’s hand-crafted to perfection, and painted with varnish for extra protection and elegance. It has natural resistance to termites, but you should still protect it from pests.

Wooden Cabinet with Oak-Blocks Front

Good for keeping skeletons of your life (Just kidding!). Seriously, though, this cabinet is made from high-quality wood, and its doors are decorated with square and rectangle rustic oak planks to give it its unique look. It can easy give the room where it’s placed a unique statement.

If you own these and other cool wooden furniture, better keep them away from termites – fast! Make sure that the best termite control in town is at hand in any case.

July 19, 2014October 27, 2020

Home, Sweet Home: The Woods You Should Use For Your Home

Home-sweet-home

Wood is an important element of majority (if not all) households. It’s so versatile and sturdy that it you can literally make a whole house made just out of wood! A quick look around the room and surely you’d be able to point out at least one household item that’s made of wood. If that’s the case, then your home is always at the risk of pest infestation, hence termite control is definitely something you should always consider.

Did you know that more than 90% of termite infestations start from wood-soil contact? Of course, some types of wood are more vulnerable than others. Here are a few examples of wood that

Pressure-treated lumber

Pressure-treated lumber is wood that has been immersed in a liquid preservative and placed in a pressure chamber to force the chemical into the wood fibers, making sure that the chemical penetrates deeply into the core of the lumber.

Lumber treated with this method is highly resistant to decay and insects. The chemical preservative acts as a barrier against termites.

Most lumber treatments involve copper which is toxic to various insects and fungi that might cause decay. Some good pressure-treatment for your residence includes Alkaline Copper Quaternary (ACQ) and Copper Azole.

ACQ binds to wood fibers very well and allows wood to last decades even when it is in contact with the ground. It has been used successfully for more than ten years. Experts found it to be as good as green Chromated Copper Arsenate (CCA), a type of treatment recognized for its effectiveness. But because arsenic is a known carcinogen, CCA treatment is no longer recommended for residential purposes.

One type of copper azole treatment is Copper Boron Azole (CBA). Like ACQ, CBA is also copper-based and prevents fungal decay and insect attack, thereby making it both fungicide and insecticide. The treatment leaves the wood with dark honey brown color.

Copper Azole type B was standardized in 2002. It is composed 96.1% copper. Wood treated with CA-B has a greenish-brown color with little or no odor.

Naturally-Resistant Woods

While you can treat woods to make them resistant to termites, there are naturally-resistant woods which you can use for your home. You know very well how termites love decaying woods.

These tree species are resistant to decay and insects in their natural state due to high levels of organic chemicals called extractives, deposited in the heartwood. The heartwood of trees is actually a result of a naturally occurring chemical transformation has become more resistant to decay.

Some well-known naturally-resistant woods include the River Red gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis), coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) and western red cedar (Thuja plicata). You can also have red mulberry, black locust and Pacific yew.

Decay resistance is more common in tropical hardwoods. The tropic’s warmer temperatures and higher moisture levels are more conducive to decay, so trees growing in this area have higher resistance level to decay. Among exceptionally decay-resistant tropical woods are ipe, lignumvitae, purpleheart, and old-growth teak. In the Philippines, we have Philippine teak, Philippine or Sumatran yew, and Looking-glass tree as just some samples of hardwood.

Getting rid of pests is your first step to home, sweet home. But planning in advance when furnishing your home is equally essential as well. So choose well your home design, materials and location because in the long run, this can literally either make or break your home.

Your home should be the best place on earth for you. It is the only place you can call yours, so do your best to take care of it. After all, it has and will continue to protect you and your loved ones for a very long time.