Read an article about scientists at the University of Florida discovering a new termite which is a hybrid species formed from the Asian termite and the Formosan subterranean termite. These two non-native species are now mating and have created a "super" termite which grows faster, eats more wood and can handle colder climates.

Not good news since termites already damage 600,000 homes per year in the US and we spend $5 BILLION on damage repair and treatments.

Sadly, this new termite species is 100% man-caused because we imported the Asian termite on ships and cargo into the US as we did with the Formosan termite. We introduced them to each through the "termite dating service" known as wood homes

Maybe it is time that we use more ICFs, SIPs, SCIPs.

Posted By Alton on 28 Mar 2015 11:05 PM
Maybe it is time that we use more ICFs, SIPs, SCIPs.

I agree. We need to use materials that are more resilient that last for hundreds or even thousands of years.

The lumber industry is a billion dollar industry and they have a lot of power/control in how things are done in the USA. Nobody talks about how much embodied energy and pollution is caused when 600,000 homes per year are damaged by termites and crews have to come out, demolish, fill landfills, spray chemicals, cut new lumber, etc. This process continues hundreds of thousands of times per year, year after year.

In Europe there are structures that are standing for hundreds and even thousands of years (those of course that weren't bombed during WWII). The reason WHY is simple. Masonry or concrete. It is time tested and basically man-made rock. Termites and other elements won't effect concrete, unlike wood.

I am NOT against all lumber. I think lumber inside of a home is a beautiful warm thing. I also believe engineered lumber can do some amazing things with it's strength.

Termites have been observed tunneling through the foam in ICF and SIP's. I had minor damage in my ICF forms from termites tunneling in. I kind of wish I had used steel roof framing and suspended concrete floors, but that was not in the budget. Even if most of the home is inedible, they can still get in. I once bought an antique musical instrument, and there were active dry wood termites in the wooden case! As long as there is any wood at all in a house, termites will have to be protected against. We had subterranean termites in our CMU house in FL, and they had tunneled through the drywall, eating the paper surface.

I agree that termites can tunnel through foam. Borate salts can be added to the foam but I think this chemical would be better since it kills the insects before much damage can be done: http://colonialgreenproducts.com/eps_insect_resistant.pdf
Paperless drywall could be used to avoid feeding the termites.
Wood trim inside homes can be avoided by using SCIPs.

Posted By jdebree on 29 Mar 2015 06:26 AM
Termites have been observed tunneling through the foam in ICF and SIP's.

Yes, that can happen but EPS is NOT a food source and without a food source (cellulose) the termites will die.

Plus having the ICF damaged won't cause your home to fall down unlike wood frame which will cause structural damage.

Some precautions can be made to ICF like installing a stainless steel mesh in the wall to keep termites from climbing/tunneling and using EIFS stem wall coatings down to the footing. 

It is a rare house that has no wood- flooring, furniture, cabinets, and of course, framing, if you use wood. Our house has wood floor framing and roof framing. If they tunnel up through the ICF, to get to the wood, it would be bad, as you wouldn't see them until damage is done. They can get through tiny cracks in concrete. I think the chance of them getting to the wood in our house would be very unlikely, but we still had the soil treated, and are under a termite contract. Dry wood termites fly, so they can get into a house fairly easily. Luckily, their colonies are small, so they tend to do less damage. I'm not sure if living in the woods is an advantage or disadvantage. There is plenty of food available without getting into the house, but there are also a lot more termites. I've heard that one big problem is when you have a lot of termites, and remove the food source by clearing land. In FL, they used to bury the wood from clearing, then build houses. The termites flourished on all of that buried wood- until it was used up. Then they headed to the only available food source- houses. I believe it is now illegal to bury large quantities of wood in FL when developing land.