termite infestation in mud block house

Well,  i built my mud block houses 6 years ago and apart from an odd termite tunnel there has been no problem....until this year. They are coming everywhere.... Nothing one day and then a great big house on the wall the next.  I'm having to break the walls and rebuild...bit by bit.... But it's getting worse not better.  Any help appreciated

They don't like lime wash or fine sand, research those

John Daley.... Thanks for taking an interest!  The whole house is plastered in mud and lime mix and painted with several coats of limewash
...i. paint it every year.  The termites are nesting inside the blocks.... Then coming out everywhere.  If I knock out the infested part,  get rid of them,  rebuild,  replaster,  repaint they just spring up somewhere else.  I've been researching this for quite some time.... Can't find an answer anywhere.....

When you say a"big house on the wall" what do you mean, they usually tunnel

look heretermitea and permies

They have tunnelled and nested inside the blocks.... Then come out and build a house on the wall.  Wait a minute... I will get a photo.....

Hopefully this is a photo of the termite house

They may not be termites, but a flying insect, I get them here in Australia.
They create a mud structure like yours but don't eat their way from the ground.
I just knock them away when I see them or can be bothered.
Termites eat wood in your house and are always building tunnels of mud on surfaces ro get from the ground to the timber to eat

If I leave these ' mud blocks ' alone, at some time I notice a hole where something has come out from.

Boric acid soaked wood is a low toxicity solution to many termite issues, but it also sounds like you have a fairly extensive problem.  

Termites also need moisture - is there a way to control that in your situation or does it wick from the ground?

Not wasps or bees.... I Have those nests absolutely everywhere!  If I knock out the surface plaster the termite nest is in full view.... Too hot to do that today.... And complete with all the little white termite workers... And quite a few guards!  This has been going on for about a year.  It's affecting my big house and one of my 3 roundhouse.  I'm debating with myself whether I should just knock off the outside house.... Just a smallish hole underneath.... Spray it... (not happy about that bit)  plaster and paint.  And see what happens.  As far as I can see they are doing no damage to timbers.... Eucalyptus and mahogany.... But obviously I can't see what's happening underground.  Honestly it's driving me mad!  

Phil gardener... Thanks for the reply.  I honestly don't know where they are coming from.  The foundations are concrete and half metre cement blocks in the ground and half metre above.  And the termites usually come half way or high on the wall!  When I cut them out of the roundhouse the nest inside was about 1 metre round And just about wall thickness.... 10 inch or so. Couldn't see any connecting tunnels at all.
On the big house there is a 2 metre veranda all the way round so shouldn't be a water problem.  Roundhouse has only roof overhang.... But only 1 out of 3 roundhouse affected.   Didn't know about the borax for wood,  and not sure if it's available here,  but will keep it in mind in case I do more buikding.

I live in the bush.... Now rapidly developing.... And termites are everywhere.... But I've not really had a problem till a year ago

One commercial product recommended to me that comes already in a liquid form called Bora-Care. It contains Ethylene Glycol to help with penetration and care should be taken as it is toxic to fish and wildlife (mainly due to the Ethylene Glycol I believe).

Hello,

Termites can invade a square house from the best or base, contingent upon the species. The ones that get in from the base, underground termites, live in the dirt and go into the house to devour wood, at that point come back to their home in the ground. More seasoned solid square houses are defenseless against subterranean as a result of a kind of development called "square stem wall" that was utilized until about the mid-1980s. The square dividers were laid over a solid establishment balance in the ground.

I've listened to Paul Stamets talk of how he used a fungus to eradicate carpenter ants from his home, he also talks of using it for termites and other such insects.  The talks I've heard are on youtube.

I'll do a quick search to see if I can find something..... google search ---> Stamets termites  
Here's a video with him talking about how they used it to get rid of carpenter ants. ---> Stamets carpenter ants  That seemed to be a real quick story from what I recall, he probably goes into more detail in one of his longer talks.

Here's his website.  Fungi.com

Hi Kadi. I was questioned about the possibility of a cob house been damaged by termites and found your post from last year. How is it going? Do you still have the same problem? I got triggered by the fact you said that timbers were fine. Are you positive if they are really termites? By the picture you posted it looks like termite home but I could also report it as a wasp home...

I got curious and searched a little. There is not much on the net beyond theoretical reassurance about how cob doesn't have pest problems and a few "don't see anything yet" reports. However, there are a couple of threads from people in India who most definitely had termites loving their cob. Here are the threads.

http://elkecole.com/2012/05/cob-pictures-from-amarula-camp/

https://csm-fanaa.blogspot.com/search?q=termites&max-results=20&by-date=true


It might be worth some thought in places where termites are common.


Regards,
Rufus

My suggestion is to wet down the wall, and then paint with a saturated solution of borax/boracic acid powder and propylene glycol. Soak it right into your walls. then choose a part that you can make a cross section into. paint it with turmeric in alcohol to see the rate of penetration. It will change color on exposure to the borax solution.