New Construction Borate Treatment

Borate wood treatment and soil termiticide pretreatment are two different jobs, and Henrico builders regularly use both. A soil pretreat puts a chemical barrier in the ground under and around the slab or footing, stopping termites before they reach wood. Borate treatment protects the wood itself, which matters when a barrier gets breached later by a French drain, a patio pour, landscape grading, or a plumbing dig.

If you only want one, understand the trade-off plainly: soil work stops the approach, borates protect the target.

The timing window is the part that goes wrong most often. Borates need bare, dry wood.

Once insulation is stapled and drywall is hung, the studs and band joists we most want to reach are sealed behind finish work, and the job becomes a partial treatment of whatever is still open. On the townhome and single-family framing going up around Wyndham, Short Pump and the Three Chopt corridor, that usually means we're on site the same week the roof is dried in and windows are set. "

Henrico conditions justify the extra step.

Crawlspace construction is common across Varina, Sandston and Highland Springs, and a crawlspace puts sill plates, band joists and floor joists in humid air a few feet above damp soil — the exact spot where subterranean termite mud tubes and moisture-fed decay show up years later during a home inspection. Lots near the James River bottomland toward Osborne Boat Landing, and low ground east toward Richmond International Airport, hold moisture longer than the higher ground around Innsbrook and the Henrico County Government Center at Parham and Hungary Spring.

On safety and scope, the honest version: borate products applied to framing are used with the structure open and unoccupied, they dry into the wood, and the treated surfaces end up behind drywall or under the subfloor rather than in your living space.

Borates are water-soluble and are not intended for lumber that will stay wet or be exposed to weather — so wood destined for constant rain exposure, ground contact, or standing water isn't a candidate, and we'll say so instead of spraying it.

For builders and homeowner-builders, we price by framed area and access, not by a mystery number, and we put the treated areas and the product used in writing so it's in your file when the house sells.