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Went under my mothers 1958 crawl space home today- very elaborate copper flashing/shields over all the piers and also around the exterior box beams.
These look like they would at least make the termites work harder to build a tube around it and be visible in the process.
Why are they not used anymore????
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ed.. i think it's because they were ineffective...
the homing instincts of termites will drive them on until they find the entry point thru the shield.. and then they're in like flynn...
now... what we do today by code is not neccessarily any more effective.. and maybe even less... but the end result seems to be better on an average case...
all the details i saw when i started in the '60's still showed termite shields... but i never saw one in use....
still have never seen a termite shield to this day... and we've got lots of termites with big appetites and lots of little mouths to feed...
*Wheres the termite shield??? I've seen a builder in the mid atlantic area who doesn't use pt sills on poured concrete foundations. Keeps the grade down to avoid the out of the ground code for termites.What does he care while on exotic vacations while exotic bugs eat his creations.
*A long time ago , 70s, I asked about that the sheetmetal was that stuck out around the columns supporting a neihbors house. My friends father was a builder. He told me that it was a termite shield. After looking at it it dawned on me that it had a rough enough surface that critters could just climb around the down turned edge. As I remember it there was an ant which I watched doing just that. When asked about this he explained that the shields really didn't stop the termites but made them build tubes to the soil out where they could be seen. It was intended that columns under a house would be inspected for tubes regularly and that the shields would make sure the tubes would be on the outside of the column and not inside the concrete block column where traces of an infestation would go unnoticed.