furniture storage & termites

wiz561

Hi,

I'm going to be building a new house and I'm storing my furniture in my parent's garage. The house probably won't be done for another 3 or 4 months, but all of my stuff is sitting in the garage.

It just clicked with me that they had termites in the past. My dad has put down 'termite stakes' every year, and the garage is at least a 2' barrier (two sides cement, 1 side asphalt, and 1 side grass) around the garage.

My concern is that when I move everything into my new house, I might take a termite or two with. What can I do to prevent this from occurring?

I was thinking of wrapping my leather couches in huge plastic bag, then put a dampx in the bag to prevent moisture. I was also thinking about putting each cardboard box into a garbage bag to prevent bugs.

In your professional opinion, do you think this would prevent the transfer of a possible bug/termite into my new home? Would wrapping the sofa and putting dampx for a few months kill whatever may have crawled in?

Thanks all in advance!

PAbugman

Here in the East we only have subterranean termites; the colony is in the soil, sending workers/foragers out for food. If your furniture is on a cement slab, indoors, there will be no problem. You cannot create a termite problem (subterranean) by taking some with you as you can with roaches or fleas. Termites are colony insects and need the rest of the colony, or at least a healthy cross-section. Termites are actually hard to raise-they want to do it themselves, much like most of us on this chatroom! Furniture is hard (usually) finished wood, very dry. Not conducive to subterranean termites. If you live where drywood termites exist, a different story is possible. I would be more concerned with mold, mildew, spiders, and especially rodents in the situation that you describe. Put out mousetraps with bait kept fresh, or rodenticide if safety can be maintained. The furniture, especially leather, must breathe. Don't know if Dampx has any insecticidal/repellent properties. Garbage bags over boxes may be a good idea, but mold/mildew still concerns me. Dessicants such as Dampx can be overpowered by humidity, lack of air movement, etc. Hope this helps.

wiz561

Thanks for the reply. It has put my mind to ease and I'm thinking to just let the boxes breath. I put them in the garage on the cement slab, but I put 2x4's under the boxes to allow air movement under the boxes.

Other rodents aren't a huge concern. There hasn't been any evidence of mice, roaches, or anything else....just spiders. My biggest concern was the termites, and it sounds like they shouldn't be a problem.

Thank you for putting my mind to ease!!!