Borax treatment for wood rot?

There are products containing disodium octaborate tetrahydrate and glycols which claim to be injecible into wood to stop and prevent rot. Bora-care is one of these products. I have a deck in Seattle which has 4x6 beams made of untreated wood which show white fibers of rot on the surface underneath. I am considering treating the beams to extend their life. Has anyone used these products and seen good results?

Bob

Reply to
Bob
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As far as I know, Bora-care was made to treat wood for termites - not rot. Of course, the termites are often there because there is rot....

Doug

Reply to
sparks065

Fix the moisture problem and replace the wood. Your beams will last a lot longer if you use pressure treated wood.

Reply to
Phisherman

We had a hot water pipe burst while on vacation, and have had some mold problems in the basement. I've tried treating with Odo-ban, which is anti-mold/bacteria/viral/lions, tigers, and bears, etc. Seemed to work ok, but a recent sewage problem has caused me to inventigate further and i've found that there are more places to treat. The problem with odo-ban is that it's only active when applied and leaves no residual protection. Replacement of all the beams in our basement is cost prohibitive.

Thanks for kicking my butt into action for looking for something like this. I found this which seems to be a good solution. (homemade "boro-care")

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As a bonus, it appears to be reasonable proof against termites... an added bonus! Now i have to find a good source for larger quantities of boric acid. (borax at the store in the detergents, i know.... but boric acid which is used in various bug killers, i've had a harder time finding)

Reply to
Philip Edward Lewis

:) Thanks for kicking my butt into action for looking for something like :) this. I found this which seems to be a good :) solution. (homemade "boro-care") :)

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:) As a bonus, it appears to be reasonable proof against termites... an :) added bonus! Now i have to find a good source for larger quantities :) of boric acid. (borax at the store in the detergents, i know.... but :) boric acid which is used in various bug killers, i've had a harder :) time finding)

Locate a Pest Control supply house. You should be able to buy a package of Tim-Bor for $3-$4. Enough to make up a gallon. They will probably have Bora-Care too, but I have never bought/used any before so not sure of the costs with it.

Lar. (to e-mail, get rid of the BUGS!!

It is said that the early bird gets the worm, but it is the second mouse that gets the cheese.

Reply to
Lar

Get lots of drain oil (from cars), saturate the whole deck with it, being sure to get it under the deck boards, which means loosening them. The deck will turn dark brown, but will not rot for years.

Reply to
spamfree

A great place for wood-rot related information & materials is

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Reply to
Axial

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I appreciate the reference - I hadn't found that one. It would be nice to find someone with real experiance with these products.

Bob

Reply to
Bob

I'll look around to see what the local prices are... I have also found all the ingredients for the #2 mix at chemistrystore.com.... I'll be getting 20lbs borax, 10 lbs boric acid, and 5 gal of Propylene-glycol for about $15. Much better than the bora-care at

90/gallon.... but much worse than tim-bor at $3-4/gallon. ;)

Looks like you are paying alot for the glycol in the bora-care. I might be able to get the tim-bor and supply my own glycol. I'll have to see what it (glycol) costs in the stores and compair it to what i can find online (plus shipping but minus tax).

Reply to
Philip Lewis

Boracare isn't quite boric acid, though.. I'm not sure how much difference it makes, but they're not the same chemical.

Reply to
default

I have used Bora-care and it is intended to kill off things like powder-post beetles. You appear to have a different problem. You need to either remove the rotted wood and replace it or consolidate the rotted material with an epoxy. Either way, the real solution is to keep moisture away after repairing and to seal the wood.

Good Luck.

Reply to
Baron

I can recommend Abatron

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Reply to
Michael Nickolas

That should have been $150, not $15.

default writes:

yup... i noticed that... looks like tim-bor and bora-care are the same material: disodium octaborate tetrahydrate (Na2B8O13.4H2O), with bora-care having a (ethylene) glycol carrier.

I'm not sure what reaction boric acid (H3BO3) and borax decahydrate (Na2B4O7.10H2O) have when combined, if perhaps they form the octoborate salt. Chemistry was too long ago...

In any case, i do know that boric acid is bad for bugs. I imagine that it's also bad for fungus and other life forms.

I'm still debat> I have used Bora-care and it is intended to kill off things like

It's good for wood rot/fungus as well. funny how compounds toxic to some critters are toxic to others... ;)

(even funnier that it's mostly harmless to humans)

Reply to
Philip Lewis

Bora-Care is specified to kill various "rots". Keeping moisture away is not an option - this is an outdoor deck in Seattle. The wood is still structurally sound now, but tendrils of fungus can be seen in it from underneath. My hope is to find a product which will kill the existing fungus and prevent regrowth. I was hoping someone here had some experience with this sort of product.

Bob

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Reply to
Bob

Over the years I have gotten to know John Caporaso, the chief chemist and owner at Abatron. Their products really do work, but you have to know how to use them.

See Wood Epoxy Repairs at:

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John

Reply to
John Leeke

This doesn't sound like a good idea, as used motor oil is *seriously* carcenogenic. Really.

I suppose you could use cheap new motor oil. But note that this isn't exactly going to make your deck fire-retardant.

All in all, bad idea, methinks.

Cheers -- Pete Tillman

Reply to
Peter D. Tillman

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