Termites in cabs?

retroshaun

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Has anyone else had problems with termites infesting the woodwork on their cabs? I bought a game a few years ago that had bad termite damage (I assume its termites, I havent seen any but there were plenty of holes and "runs" in the ply when I started teh restore).

I thought they were all gone and I stripped the bad wood and treated with some termite spray and wood hardner. Anyway it looks like they're back because I see a good couple dozen small "dart sized" holes in the back and one side of the game.

Anyone else had this problem and if so hoiw did you solve it? I heard heat or cold tereatment is a good solution but we're in Northern California so its relativelty mild most of the year.

I spent so much time and money on the restore so far and I'm about ready to throw in the towel!

Any help is appreciated.
 
I would be more worried about your house! Don't mess with termites!

Nothing in the house (and its rented anyway so - whatever!). Its purely in the one game, it came this way and has remained this way. Very werid. I am assuming its termites - the old wood had lots of channels inside it and currently I am just seeing the "exit" holes. Otherwise, no other obvious signs.
 
I have a tron game that had termintes.
It was stripped and tented to make sure they would not come back.

I was reading about that. Can you give me details on how that process worked? Did you do it yourself or get an exterminator? How long did it take and how much did it cost? Messy? Did you do it 'on site'?
 
Do as you would on a house. Cut out ALL bad wood, then some. If you can't do that, ditch it.

Unfortunately I did that soem time ago, thought they were outta there, but teh holes reappear. I'm so pissed - I spent a lot of cash and tiem on this thing only to be seemingly defeated by a damn insect!

I saw some foam/powder you can inject into the holes - was gonna give that a try. Anyone got experience of that?

I think these guys are a little different to regular household termites (I guess they are 'drywood termites').
 
Unfortunately I did that soem time ago, thought they were outta there, but teh holes reappear. I'm so pissed - I spent a lot of cash and tiem on this thing only to be seemingly defeated by a damn insect!

I saw some foam/powder you can inject into the holes - was gonna give that a try. Anyone got experience of that?

I think these guys are a little different to regular household termites (I guess they are 'drywood termites').

Good luck. Just sounds like a battle you might not win and may not want it in a house. Those things are like cancer to wood. I know, I was replacing a window in our house and after prying some trim off, found the framing around the window, cripple studs below, header above were full of termites. It was surreal. By some miracle, the damage stopped right below the ceiling framing and about 1 stud over on each side of the window. Spent about $2k having pros cut the wall out, reframe, new sheetrock, window installed, etc.. If I hadn't started removing that window, you would have NEVER known what was going on in that wall.

Can you cut your losses and find another empty cabinet?
 
I was reading about that. Can you give me details on how that process worked? Did you do it yourself or get an exterminator? How long did it take and how much did it cost? Messy? Did you do it 'on site'?

I did it my self.
I took everything off.
Dragged the empy cab in the back yard.
I used pallet wrapping and wrapped the cab.
I Cut a hole and popped two home and yard fumigators tapped the hole up and left it out in the hot sun for a week. I air it out for a day and put everything back in.

No, I didn't do it on site Just in case the gas escaped.

The palet wrap I had for years and the fumigators came from a clearance shelf. There were a buck a piece. So other than time and effort. It cost me 2 bucks..
 
Good luck. Just sounds like a battle you might not win and may not want it in a house. Those things are like cancer to wood. I know, I was replacing a window in our house and after prying some trim off, found the framing around the window, cripple studs below, header above were full of termites. It was surreal. By some miracle, the damage stopped right below the ceiling framing and about 1 stud over on each side of the window. Spent about $2k having pros cut the wall out, reframe, new sheetrock, window installed, etc.. If I hadn't started removing that window, you would have NEVER known what was going on in that wall.

Can you cut your losses and find another empty cabinet?

When the parents place had terminte. Did the call the Pros? Nope. I got called. 300 and one week later they had a new floor, two New walls and New balcony..
 
I have had two run ins with termites, both from the same operator. If you can't find a place to put it a freezer for 6 month, slavage what you can of the non-wood items and burn it. The first attempt was a Joust that looked like they were only in the lower 6". Hah!

I got some professional strength spray from out exterminator. It came in a can with a real long pipette on it. I tipped the Joust cabinet on its side and sprayed the stuff in the holes until it started dripping out the bottom. They did not like this stuff at all and came pouring out of the wood. I waited until they stopped popping out and dying on the concrete (I was doing this on my patio). I then wrapped it up in a 3 or four painters cloths to trap the fumes inside and left it out on the patio for a week.

The next week I unwrapped it and saw a bunch more dead termites in the plastic. Thinking I had won. I got out my circular saw and set it for 3/4" cut and took off the bottom 6 inches of the first side. When I examined the wood, I could see holes in the wood so I took another 4" off the side. More holes. Another 4". Wow. I hit the mother load. I managed to cut the termite queen in half! She was still alive and really pissed. I grabbed the spray and hosed that chamber out. It looked to be about 3" deep so I cut another 4" off. There were some holes so I stuck the spray pipe in a couple of holes and sprayed a shot in each. I was rewarded with a ton of termites boiling out of holes on the sides and dying on the concrete.

So I cut another 4" off the side and hit another queen's chamber. Damn!

Long story short, I cut the entire side up into 4" strips, found 5 more live queen chambers, tons of termites and the only good thing about it was the strips went into the garbage can much easier than the cabinet would have.

The only wood piece I was able to save on the cabinet was the control panel. Apparently, the termites didn't like the taste of the varnish, so they left it alone. The rest of the cabinet was a total loss. I stripped the metal from it and cut it up to fit in the garbage can. I found termites in the top, the bottom, the other side, everywhere.

Bottom line, unless you can freeze it, termites can't survive the cold, they are almost impossible to be 100% certain you got them all.

ken
 
When the parents place had terminte. Did the call the Pros? Nope. I got called. 300 and one week later they had a new floor, two New walls and New balcony..

Looking back, I 'could' have done the work. I'm a big DIY'er, but the damage went all the way to the 2x4 at the top of the wall. I thought it went into the ceiling, so called the pros, and figured they'd have to cut the sheetrock ceiling out and get into the roof framing.

Turned out the damage stopped at the top of the wall, and the doubled top plate (under the roof) was ok. I got them to just hang the sheet rock, then I mudded, sanded, painted, put the trim back, etc.. Did we overpay? Maybe a bit, but it was a crisis and we needed it fixed.
 
Looking back, I 'could' have done the work. I'm a big DIY'er, but the damage went all the way to the 2x4 at the top of the wall. I thought it went into the ceiling, so called the pros, and figured they'd have to cut the sheetrock ceiling out and get into the roof framing.

Turned out the damage stopped at the top of the wall, and the doubled top plate (under the roof) was ok. I got them to just hang the sheet rock, then I mudded, sanded, painted, put the trim back, etc.. Did we overpay? Maybe a bit, but it was a crisis and we needed it fixed.

I got a lot of experince repairing my parents apartment units it cost them 4k to fix the termite damage. That was just the cost of wood, hangers and decking screws. The inspector has me if I just replaced the tips of the eves. I took him on a tour and said that one was 10 feet, 12 feet and 14 feet. I fee sorry for the next person who has to take that part. It was screwed together and with a liberal use of construction glue.
 
I just went through this with a mspac cab. After I tried a few treatments at home (and failed) I ended up taking the entire cabinet to a professional exterminator. They put it in a small shipping container that they use for furniture treatment and gassed it. It cost me $75.
 
One thing you can do to an arcade cab that you can't do to a house is this (and it's gonna sound ridiculous to some people, but, theoretically, it will work): Disassemble the cab and shrink wrap the hell out of each panel that you suspect is infested. Wrap it in 30+ layers of good, commercial grade wrap. Make a truly air-tight seal around the entire thing and leave it for a month. Termites don't breathe much oxygen and there's gonna be a bit of oxygen trapped inside there at first but they don't eat all that much wood in a month, either. Research termites and you'll find that, in dry wood such as lumber their colonies rarely exceed 50 individuals. If you leave them sealed in there long enough they'll asphyxiate and die. And then who's gonna know or care that there are 10 to 50 decaying termite corpses embedded in the panels of your cab?

Research and you'll find that asphyxiation is the target and result of most current methods of termite extermination. It's just that this is usually carried out by chemistry. I don't know of any effective chemistry that's going to kill your termites and spare the structure of your cabinet wood.

Research and note one more thing: Termite eggs need very little oxygen; they'll be the thing you'll need to worry about the most. Usually they hatch well before 90 days but they can lay dormant longer if cold temperatures inspire them to "overwinter", as the zoologists call it. So keep your wrapped panels in a warm place and maybe keep them wrapped for 100 days and hope for the best. The warmer you keep them the more you'll be forcing the eggs to hatch into an oxygen-depleted environment and so asphyxiate as larvae.

Or maybe there's a better way. I'd like to think so but, if there is I don't know it.

I told you alot of people would think it sounds crazy!
 
I have had two run ins with termites, both from the same operator. If you can't find a place to put it a freezer for 6 month, slavage what you can of the non-wood items and burn it. The first attempt was a Joust that looked like they were only in the lower 6". Hah!

I got some professional strength spray from out exterminator. It came in a can with a real long pipette on it. I tipped the Joust cabinet on its side and sprayed the stuff in the holes until it started dripping out the bottom. They did not like this stuff at all and came pouring out of the wood. I waited until they stopped popping out and dying on the concrete (I was doing this on my patio). I then wrapped it up in a 3 or four painters cloths to trap the fumes inside and left it out on the patio for a week.

The next week I unwrapped it and saw a bunch more dead termites in the plastic. Thinking I had won. I got out my circular saw and set it for 3/4" cut and took off the bottom 6 inches of the first side. When I examined the wood, I could see holes in the wood so I took another 4" off the side. More holes. Another 4". Wow. I hit the mother load. I managed to cut the termite queen in half! She was still alive and really pissed. I grabbed the spray and hosed that chamber out. It looked to be about 3" deep so I cut another 4" off. There were some holes so I stuck the spray pipe in a couple of holes and sprayed a shot in each. I was rewarded with a ton of termites boiling out of holes on the sides and dying on the concrete.

So I cut another 4" off the side and hit another queen's chamber. Damn!

Long story short, I cut the entire side up into 4" strips, found 5 more live queen chambers, tons of termites and the only good thing about it was the strips went into the garbage can much easier than the cabinet would have.

The only wood piece I was able to save on the cabinet was the control panel. Apparently, the termites didn't like the taste of the varnish, so they left it alone. The rest of the cabinet was a total loss. I stripped the metal from it and cut it up to fit in the garbage can. I found termites in the top, the bottom, the other side, everywhere.

Bottom line, unless you can freeze it, termites can't survive the cold, they are almost impossible to be 100% certain you got them all.

ken

This is a crazy post. If you skipped it on the first past for tl'dr, read it again. What a gross thing that must've been. I want to see pics of cut queens and angry boiling termite masses. Awesome.
 
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