IMPORTED PLYWOOD & TERMITES
10/13/16
Hey guys, I have 2 clients in the past 5 years complain about termites damage in cabinets made of imported plywood. First case happened 3-1/2 years after i installed the cabinets and they insisted that the plywood came with the termites. My response to them was "where the termites sleeping for 3-1/2 years and suddenly woke up".
Another client is complaining about same thing of their kitchen cabinets i installed about 2 years ago.
Question is: can imported plywood (or any plywood for that matter cause wood is wood) come with termites and show up or wake up years later and start eating away ?
10/13/16 #2: IMPORTED PLYWOOD & TERMITES ...
I could see it being possible in hardwoods, but extremely unlikely in plywood. I think you can confidently tell your clients they are wrong. Are they asking you to pay their extermination costs?
10/13/16 #3: IMPORTED PLYWOOD & TERMITES ...
Are you sure it's termites and not powderpost beetles? I did a job 10 years or so ago that I used a couple sheets of import.I hate the stuff, but my supplier sent it by mistake and being in a hurry to finish I used it as shelving. A few weeks later the contractor called, and sure enough saw the frass myself. I replaced the shelving and had the supplier sign off on the fact that it was their problem, which surprisingly they did without protest. I suspect that they had a bunch of it out there and decided to deal with it. Long story short, we got to it in time and never had another call back. It's possible that with PPB they might not be noticed for a long time.
10/13/16 #4: IMPORTED PLYWOOD & TERMITES ...
We had a case of cabinets made of Chinese birch 7 years ago. The cabinets were removed and heated to kill the termites. The termite bond didn't apply because they were a different species not Formosan as stated in the bond.