mridgeelk Posted November 4, 2009 Report Share Posted November 4, 2009 Today in a crawlspace of a 1973 home there was this brown granular stuff that appears to have been placed on the stem wall footer and the interior pads. Any ideas what it is? Also should this amount of scaling/spalling of the concrete along with the efflorescence be of concern? Click to Enlarge 56.48 KB Click to Enlarge 37.08 KB Click to Enlarge 37.36 KB Click to Enlarge 34.39 KB Click to Enlarge 56.21 KB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hausdok Posted November 4, 2009 Report Share Posted November 4, 2009 Boric acid powder, maybe? OT - OF!!! M. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichNSpect Posted November 4, 2009 Report Share Posted November 4, 2009 The brown "saw dust" like substance could be Frass, which is made up of wood shavings, bits of soil, dead ants and parts of insects. Hard to tell from pics. Did you notice any ants? Not sure about the white stuff. Kevin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inspector57 Posted November 4, 2009 Report Share Posted November 4, 2009 There was a brown granular insecticide that I have used as a lawn broadcast in the past. Did you taste it? (Not that I would know what insecticide granules would taste like) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mridgeelk Posted November 4, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 4, 2009 I saw no evidence of insects, ants whatever. The brown "saw dust" like substance could be Frass, which is made up of wood shavings, bits of soil, dead ants and parts of insects. Hard to tell from pics. Did you notice any ants? Not sure about the white stuff. Kevin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark P Posted November 4, 2009 Report Share Posted November 4, 2009 Rat Poison? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottpat Posted November 4, 2009 Report Share Posted November 4, 2009 Looks like boric acid powder and frass of some type. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les Posted November 4, 2009 Report Share Posted November 4, 2009 Diazinon? fairy dust to improve your credit score? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mridgeelk Posted November 4, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 4, 2009 I just read John Dirks post from this past January and I think the boric acid idea is correct. If that brown stuff is ant waste it must mean they have sphincters shaped like a rhombus or some other polygon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Katen Posted November 4, 2009 Report Share Posted November 4, 2009 I just read John Dirks post from this past January and I think the boric acid idea is correct. If that brown stuff is ant waste it must mean they have sphincters shaped like a rhombus or some other polygon. The white stuff is either boric acid or lime. People use boric acid to deter insects, particularly ants. People use lime to treat nasty plumbing leaks in crawlspaces. If it's boric acid, they used an awful lot of it. The brown stuff is probably diazinon, as Les suggested. It's also used to treat insects, and ants in particular. It's certainly not frass. Insects don't distribute frass like that. (C'mon guys, lets put our frass in a circle around this post -- hey you! You left a gap, be sure to fill it in.) The stuff in your pictures was placed there by a human hand. My guess is that somebody was concerned about ants, heard that boric acid & diazinon were the thing to use, and figured that, if a little is good, a lot must be better. Idiots. - Jim in Oregon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hausdok Posted November 4, 2009 Report Share Posted November 4, 2009 If that brown stuff is ant waste it must mean they have sphincters shaped like a rhombus or some other polygon. Not sure what post you're referring to; but the fecal pellets left by Pacific Dampwood Termites look just like little hexagonal drums when looked at under a jeweler's loupe. Now that you've got that picture in your mind, I return you to your original thread topic. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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