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Frugal mulch costs $5000
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Posted by bruggirl z9FL (My Page) on Wed, Jul 13, 05 at 19:28
| My friend got free mulch from a tree trimming company, starting about three years ago. He put it all around the foundation of his house, which I warned him was not wise, but he didn't listen. I told him to be on the safe side and treat the mulch, again he didn't listen. When termites killed his citrus tree, he didn't put two and two together and see that the mulch was where the termites came from, said termites were all over Florida.
Now he's having to treat his entire house and yard to the tune of $5000. The company that found the initial damage said the termites have probably only been there for about 3 years, since it takes them that long to swarm, and this was the first year they did swarm. Coincidence? NOT!
He also said he could tell with certainty that the termites probably came in with that first load of free mulch, because the nests were in the foundation plantings around the house first.
So beware of free mulch. Just remember, if people are having trees removed, it's probably because they're sick or infested.
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Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Frugal mulch costs $5000
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| Real estate inspectors call it a "condition conducive to wood-destroying insects" when you have wood-to-ground contact *against your house*. If your *house* has wood touching the ground, you cannot sell it with FHA or VA financing until you correct the condition, but termites in the yard or garden are so common & so unproblematic that the inspectors don't even check for them. Termites live in the soil, venturing out to eat & then returning to the soil for water.
If there's no contact between the wood & the soil, they "can't get there from here". If wood mulch is piled against the house, it makes a handy little bridge for termites to march across on their daily commute. My experience has been that the wood chips in the trimmers' trucks comes from trees & brush that was growing too close to utility lines, not from individual homeowners who had trees removed for whatever reason. |
RE: Frugal mulch costs $5000
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| Yeah, around here there are wood frame stucco houses that have wood all the way to the ground. They almost all have termites, and after they have to be treated, the insurance companies demand that they have the wood cut 8 inches off the ground. Most of these houses were built in the 50's thru the 70's. By the time they got to my neighborhood, still had frame houses, but they had caught on, and these are one very thick slabs, and the wood is not touching the ground at all. I don't believe it's even legal to build a woodframe house in Florida now, is it? |
RE: Frugal mulch costs $5000
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| I know my neighbor made the mistake of putting store bought mulch up against the foundation where his hedges are......he paid by having to have an outside wall removed, the termites killed, and the wall reconstructed. I'm glad he told me about it....I'll never mulch up agaist the house. In fact, now I'm wondering if it's o.k. to mulch against the porch, but then it's four feet of concrete away from the foundation, so I guess it should be alright. In some states, it wouldn't matter at all where the mulch came from, it's just location and opportunity..... |
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