It is hard to believe that a pest no larger than an inch long can cause Australian households between $80 to $780 million dollars in damage annually but that’s exactly what termites can do.

Our love for outdoor living and gardening has lead to more timber products being used for decking and mulch. Termites feed off these products and before you know it, they have infested you home and it has become a breeding ground for them.

BY THE TIME YOU SEE THE SIGNS THE DAMAGE IS ALREADY DONE

By eating through the timber, Termites hollow it out affecting the strength and therefore the structure of your home. Usually, the first sign of termite damage is within your home to areas such as doorframes and skirting boards. If you have a timber framed home, then by this stage chances are they have already attacked and destroyed your buildings frame and more than likely the structural integrity of your home.

This would not be the case for a steel framed home. Even if they were munching away at the doorframes and skirting boards, TERMITS CAN NOT EAT STEEL – so the structural integrity of your buildings frame would not be compromised or damaged and any repairs would be minimal in cost and time.

There are a few ways homeowners can help minimise the risk of a termite infestation including utilising barriers or using steel framing. Conventional barriers fail for a variety of reasons from being poorly installed to a lack of ongoing maintenance. Be they chemical sprays, physical mesh or plastic barrier sheeting, Termite barriers do not stop termites from entering your home – they simply try to lead the termite out into the open where they can be seen.

In 1999/2000, the CSIRO’s conducted a Termite Hazard Mapping project to determine the incidents of termite attacks in Australia. This research produced a hazard map outlining the percentage of homes attacked in various places. Within this same study, it was discovered that of those houses which participated, one third of homes were infested with termites. This study did not compare structural building materials or define the financial impacts of termite damage per house.

TERMITS CANNOT EAT STEEL

In 2003, the National Association of Steel-framed Housing Inc. (NASH) commissioned an independent research study to further understand attack rates across different construction materials and damage costs. This study was conducted across Sydney, NSW with 55% of the sample being timber framed homes and 45% of the sample being steel framed homes. The results clearly showed that while 1 in 8 timber framed homes had suffered termite damage, not a single steel home frame was affected by termites. Of the timber framed homes damaged, the average cost of repair with $2,300.

The Building Code of Australia stipulates, where an area is susceptible to termite attack, the primary building elements – e.g., its structural framework, must be constructed out of material/s that are not subject to termite attack, e.g. steel, OR a termite barrier must be installed.

Barriers will only impede or discourage termites from entering a building but do not resist them. If they find a small gap due to an insufficiently installed barrier or due to a lack of ongoing maintenance of termite management systems, they can destroy your home. Steel frames on the other hand are highly resistant to termites. Termites cannot eat steel so the structural framework of your home and builds won’t ever be compromised by these pesky critters.

ADDED PROTECTION

To help protect the other materials in your home, a combination of steel frames and a termite management system or barrier is strongly recommended. Both these items can help ensure minimal to no termite damage to your home. Steel frames also give you the added bonus of having very low maintenance requirements against termites, so you’ll only have to worry about maintaining the barriers.

MAKE SURE IT’S A STEEL FRAME

Take the first and basic step towards reducing the risk of termite infestation and damage, by using Metframe Australia’s steel frame and truss systems today and protect your home from termites for its lifetime.

Contact our team at Metframe Australia to learn how we can help your business grow with light gauge steel frames and trusses.

Resources:
– NASH – Fact file 6 – Termites
– NASH – Structural Pests
– University of Queensland – Entomology Department
– Standards Australia – AS 3660.1-1995 Protections of buildings from subterranean termites, Part 1: New Buildings
– CSIRO Forestry and Forest Products – CSIRO FFP Technical Report No 137. Termite Survey and Hazard Mapping
– Jeary – A.P. Study of the Attack Rates by Termites and Costs of Associated Damage on Domestic Housing in New South Wales 2003
– Australian Building Controls Board – Building Code of Australia, Volume 2. Class 1 and Class 10 Buildings – Housing Provisions.