Teak & holly floor lifting

jmas

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A section of the floor in my cabin is lifting and coffee like looking granules are being pushed out from under the raised area.
There is no sign of termites, wings or insects.
Any one have an idea as to what could cause this.? Other than Termites, is there any other insect that cause this.?
I will have to cut away the raised section to see what is going on.
Boat was tented and treated for termites about 6 years ago.
 
The "coffee like looking granules" may be a rubber/cork backing material. I would first suspect water intrusion...
 
--> HOGAN

Sure. Happens all the time ( Formosan termites ). It's nasty.
 
quote:

Originally posted by Radioactive

The "coffee like looking granules" may be a rubber/cork backing material. I would first suspect water intrusion...






Bill, Hope you are right about backing material.
The floor has gotten wet once in a while when
the door was open and it rained. I will let you know when I get the floor lifted.
 
I had friends who lived on a 35 ft sailboat. They got termites. Had to haul it out, have it tented and treated. Most of the galley had to be torn out and rebuilt. A very expensive problem once it was discovered!!!
 
I have a cherry and holly floor. Do I have to worry about termites in the Northeast?

Good reason to go with plastic stuff.
 
dave: Yup add another thing to your boat worry list.

Not uncommon for them to be in some foreign wood products. Dry wood termites are amostly warm climate critters so maybe the cold kills them off?? The good news is that removing bad wood and being careful to get every infected piece seems to get rid of them.
 
Yep its termites or some other critters. Lifted section of floor and found small white creepy critters. Fumigation guy coming tomorrow.

I cant get the floor up without breaking the panels. I will have to replace the whole floor. The plywood base flooring looks OK. Not to big a floor so I hope not big $$.
Any recomendations for synthetic material that looks like cherry and holly and able to put down myself.?
Once the old panel is removed, I hope to give the base plywood a coat of resin.
 
A vinyl plank floor from mannington that I installed 2 years ago. Love it !

ry%3D400
 
So is the problem here termites that hitch hiked along with the product? How would you tell if they were foreign or domestic terrorist termites?

I've got a 54 year old wooden boat that's mostly Philippine mahogany. Never had any termites.

If this is a known problem with an imported wood you should get your money back because it's a defective product. I'd report it to USDA as well.
 
Insect control guy checked out boat today. He said the critters are not dry wood termites and can be eliminated with a certain spray insecticide. Shut all windows and placed 3 fumigation bombs in cabin.
I will check tomorrow to see the results. Still will remove floor panels and install new stuff.
 
quote:

Originally posted by pdecat

Not uncommon for them to be in some foreign wood products. ..........





I once bought a set of barstools from Lowes. One day I noticed some sawdust under one of the stools. The next day there was more. I looked at the bottom and there was a hole where some sort of insect had been eating.

I sprayed it and all was well thereafter.
 
"RAID" fumigation devices purchased from Publix did a good job. Left them in cabin overnight. Next day found what looked like 100 critters dead. Wont Know if I got them all till I pick up all floor panel.
Looked at synthetic product sold by a company called "NUteak". www.nuteak.com . They have couple of marine floor coverings that will work for me and not big $$$.
Will post pix when project is finished.
 
Yzer: Back in the dark ages when your boat was made nobody used the junk wood products of today. If any craftsman cut a log or bulk and saw borer hole he threw it all into the fire. Today they say it is for the rich Americans and send it on.
Of course you can still get bugs after construction, many of which also contain foreign import critters whose ancestors arrived in imported wood products
 
quote:

Originally posted by yzer

So is the problem here termites that hitch hiked along with the product? How would you tell if they were foreign or domestic terrorist termites?





They are wearing turbans? ;)
 
No the country of origin is stamped on their genetic code. Ya have to look carefully.
 
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