This $6 Laundry Box Stops Rot and Termites. Lumber Yards Won’t Say

Built to Last, Ezra & Miriam Kaine's book of the old ways we still use on our farm: https://ezrakaine.com How to stop wood rot and termites with a $6 box of borax from the laundry aisle, the way my grandfather treated every sill he laid. My grandfather's woodshed sill went down on bare stones in 1956. Seventy years later a knife still won't go in it. The neighbor's shed, same year and same pine, rotted to mush. The difference was a $6 box from the laundry aisle, mixed with hot water and brushed on. The lumber yard sells the same family of salt in a $70-a-gallon jug. In this video I show you how to mix it so it actually soaks in. I also show the rain mistake that washes the whole job out, and the three things it will NOT do, so nobody sells you a miracle. IN THIS VIDEO ✔ The 2-year test: a treated and an untreated board on a damp cellar stone ✔ Why termites starve on treated wood (it kills the microbes in their gut) ✔ The mix that works: about 1 lb of borax per gallon of HOT water. Cold water won't take it. ✔ The 4 places rot always starts, and which woods need treating ✔ How to treat a sill that's already under your house, without lifting it ✔ Pencil-lead holes in a barn beam: how to tell if powderpost beetles are still in there THE HONEST PART • Borax dissolves in water. Use it on wood that stays dry (sills, framing, anything under a roof), or paint or oil over it once it's dry. For posts set in wet ground, buy pressure-treated. That's the one job the lumber yard has right. • It won't harden wood that's already rotten. Cut that out and replace it. • It protects the wood you treat. It is NOT a whole-house termite barrier. If you have an active colony, call a professional. • Wear gloves. Keep it away from kids, pets and livestock, and off anything food touches. WHERE THIS COMES FROM • USDA Forest Products Laboratory: borate preservatives for wood used out of ground contact • New Zealand has treated house framing with borates since the 1950s • Borate wood treatments sold at lumber yards list disodium octaborate tetrahydrate (a borate) on the label • Termite damage is generally excluded from standard U.S. homeowner's insurance as a maintenance issue (Check your own policy, and local building codes, before you treat structural wood.) What state are you in, and what's the oldest wood still standing on your place? I read every comment. #WoodPreservation #Termites #Homesteading #WoodRot #Borax #OldWays #DIYHome #TermitePrevention #BarnRepair #OffGridLiving #SelfSufficiency #FarmLife #HomeRepair #OldTimerTricks #WoodTreatment