Has anyone tried one of these or the home-brewed equivalent?

I saw this posted here and wondered if any of you have any of you tried one of these borate brews? They are apparently the equivalent of the Tim-Bor and Bora-Care products. I have some fascia that is in the early rot phase and there's only one to two feet of it to do (spread over different spots). I need to be able to do a spray-on procedure to accomplish this due to a recent permanent disability. I know that the proper way to do this is replace the rotting boards but this is a stop- gap measure until I can sort through my finances in the next year or so. Here are the recipes:

This is equivalent to Bora-Care=AE Prepare the concentrate: Mix 1 Gallon glycol antifreeze, 4 1/2 pounds borax, 3 1/2 pounds boric acid. Mix the ingredients and heat till boiling gently. Boil off water until a candy thermometer shows 260=B0F. This removes most of the water of crystallization in the borax. This solution is stable at 40=B0F and has a borate content of 26%. This is equivalent to Bora-Care=AE at about $90/gal. This concentrate must be diluted with an equal volume of water before being applied. Application: Add 1 gallon of water to every gallon of concentrate and stir thoroughly until solution is completely uniform. Always use diluted within 24 hours after mixing. If kept for longer periods of time, the active ingredient can drop out of the solution.

This is equiv. to Tim-Bor=AE...( 6 parts of borax and 4 parts of boric acid) To prepare one gallon of a 10% solution, start with an oversize container (larger than 1 gallon) add 1 lb. of powder to approx. 3 qts of water agitating until the powder has dissolved, then add additional water to end up with 1 gallon of mix. To prepare one gallon of a 15% solution, add 1.5 lbs. of powder, then add the remainder of the water and mix as previously. Approximately 1 gallon of solution will be needed to treat 200 square feet of wood surface area. (Note: solutions should be used immediately and not stored.)

Later, Chuck

Reply to
ironhat
Loading thread data ...

Isnt that a pre treatment for wood, when you have rot does that actualy kill the organisms that are causing it. Simple laundry bleach kills mold and what is living causing rot, by removing Oxygen to the growth. I spray bleach to stop rot. But if its getting wet when the bleach wears off it will come back.

Reply to
ransley

Timbor, borates or boric acid are not a wood preservatives nor will they stop the rotting of wood. Those products are used as insecticides: Timbor, more so for powder post beetles and borax for roaches and other similar insects. *Twenty Mule Team borax is used to clean clothes.

To stop the rotting of wood, you have to stop the source of moisture getting to the wood.

Or did you mis-state what your problem is: wood decay/destruction by virtue of chewing/boring insects? Wood decay or destruction by insects is not the same as rotting of wood. Damage by insects can contribute to exposing wood to moisture, though, and subsequently allowing for the rotting process.

If you do have rot, spraying any of those products will not have any affect on stopping the rotting process. If insect damage is contributing to the moisture getting to the wood, causing the rot, then spraying those products will help eliminate the insects.... you still would have to address the moisture source and you need to remove and replace the rotted wood, if you want the facia back to its original condition. Spraying those products will not "repair" the rotted wood, in any way shape or form.

Sonny

Reply to
Sonny

Procedure may have come from this site:

formatting link
Only caveat is that materials are water soluble and on exterior wood will eventually leach out.

Make up recipe looks OK to me but I would not do it in the kitchen.

Reply to
Frank

I had exactly the same problem last week. I made up a quart of the Bora-Care equivalent, dug out the soft wood then repaired the cavity. Did it kill the fungus? I haver no way of saying for sure but they say it does and I have no reason to doubt them. IMO, it will; won't stop new starting elsewhere though as long as the wood condition will support it.

Reply to
dadiOH

Incorrect...

formatting link

Reply to
dadiOH

I wonder but think cooking that mixture releases antifreezes poisons, a new murder weapon for a CIS show.

Reply to
ransley

I just googled a bit and yes the fumes are poisonous, 260f is hotter than any car radiator and will release more fumes than opening any radiator cap , if you think you can put in a thermometer and monitor the temp safely , put me in your will first.

Reply to
ransley

Done, Ransley! ;-) I needed to know if this was the cure all that it was cooked up to in the articles. Apparently not. Well, would you please let me know what the best formula is and I can cook it up outside with a fan blowing at my back while wearing a a vapor mask and earmuffs - you can't be too safe, after all. I'll do this to kill the microorganisms until I can get to it next spring.

Regards, Chuck

Reply to
ironhat

I stand by what I said, those borate/borax treatments are insecticides. That literature, you cited, uses the term "preservative" in a misleading way, i.e., I can urinate on a board and no one will go near it for a while. In essence, I would be "preserving" the board.... against what?

To treat wood for preservation, one needs a copper sulfate solution, an arsenic solution or creosote.... and these need to be applied by pressure, i.e., pressure treated wood, in order for even these to be highly effective wood preservatives.

Sonny

Sonny

Reply to
Sonny

Incorrect...

formatting link
>

Stand wherever you wish, it doesn't mean that it isn't effective against fungi *as well* as insects. Note the words " kill" and "prevent" in the last line below.

Bora-Care prevents and eliminates: Drywood termites Subterranean termites Formosan termites Carpenter ants Powderpost beetles Old house borers PLUS: Bora-Care will kill and prevent wood-decay fungi and algae

Reply to
dadiOH

Tried the home brew and applied to wood fungus in an RV after finding the source of moisture. Will update with results.

Reply to
rapaz986

It'd be nice if you quoted enough of the original post that we'd know just what the hell you're blathering on about .

Reply to
Terry Coombs

Terry,

Actually it's better this way.

Dave M.

Reply to
David L. Martel

replying to ransley, Woodson Jones wrote: you have to use a respirater dumbass

Reply to
Woodson Jones

replying to Woodson Jones, Bob G wrote: So nine years later you took the time to show what a prick you are?

Reply to
Bob G

Do you mean 260 Fahrenheit?

Reply to
kenny

No explanation what 260=B0F means. Is that 260 Fahrenheit? I am boiling away, but the solution is only getting up to 220 Fahrenheit. The fumes coming off are leaving an oily deposit on everything, which tells me I'm only boiling away the glycol, not water. Pretty useless formula.

Reply to
kenny

Boiling point of glycol is 386.6F or 197C degrees.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

formatting link

U+00B0 is the UTF-8 encoding for the degree symbol. Somewhere along the way some program did not like the symbol and substituted the encoding. So it was originally

260 <degreeSymbol> F
Reply to
rbowman

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.