What Is Borate Wood Treatment? Borate wood treatment is a water-soluble preservative, usually disodium octaborate tetrahydrate (DOT), applied to bare wood to help control decay fungi and wood-boring insects in the wood it adequately penetrates. It doesn’t bind to the wood, so liquid water can wash it back out, and it can’t restore strength that … Read more
A missing corner on a windowsill and a soft spot in a floor joist are both damaged wood. That does not make them the same repair. The sill may be a good candidate for epoxy. The joist may need new lumber. Confusing those two situations is how a neat-looking patch turns into a concealed structural … Read more
An unfinished basement is the most tempting storage space in the house and the one most likely to quietly ruin what you put down there. The problem usually isn’t a leak you can see. It’s the moisture you can’t â humidity in the air and dampness moving up through the concrete slab. Both work slowly, … Read more
You can â but almost nobody needs it where they think they do, and using it everywhere is one of the more expensive ways to not solve a basement moisture problem. Short answer: Pressure-treated plywood is the right call for wood that sits directly on the slab or within a few inches of soil â … Read more
Most people pick basement wall paint the way they’d pick paint for a bedroom â grab a can, roll it on, done. Then six months later it’s peeling in sheets, chalking white, or hiding a moisture problem that quietly turns into mold behind the drywall. Basement walls are their own animal. Concrete is alkaline and … Read more