Effects of Local Additives on the Control of Termites Infested Building Components in Lagos State

Abstract

The study adopted experimental research design, on selected condition or a change treatment. Observations or measurement are planned to illuminate effect or any change in conditions. Aimed at investigating the effects of local additives on the termites infested buildings. The area of the study was 30 Local Government Area. Predominate in these areas to use for various Building constructions. Lagos State. The population for the study comprised of termite infested buildings. This include public and private buildings in the State. There are 73,000 termite infested buildings in the State. Building that are susceptible to termites and other agents of Building degradations. It is noticeable that in these areas, Purposive sampling technique, 90 termite infested buildings was selected for the study three building was selected in each locality one building per sample. (3 x 30 = 90) termite infested buildings Different mixtures of the additives on the infested building components such as walls, windows, doors, floor, and roof. the purpose of the experiment. The purpose of the study was to find out the effect of condemned engine oil preservation in Lagos State. In specific, the study sought to determine following: The termite infested untreated buildings. The effect of condemned engine oil on the building infested site. The extent of deterioration of termite infested untreated building. The effect of condemned engine oil and kerosene on the extent of deterioration of termite infested treated building. The extent of termite infestation of untreated building in exterior and interior environments. The effect of condemned engine oil and salt on the extent of termite infestation of treated building in exterior and interior environments. To achieve these five purposes, a research and development design was adopted with a trig, experimental approach. Ninety-six oven dried samples of 20% moisture content consisting of were prepared in 300x50x25mm.The 96 building samples were all sensitive scale to determine the pre-infestation of each building sample and the data was recorded. 30 samples were randomly selected from each of the three species and the 96 building were divided into three groups of 30 building each. One group was categorized as untreated samples (Control) and the second group as treated samples (experimental). The two groups were further sub-divided into two groups for exterior and interior samples hence each of the building had six samples each for interior untreated, interior treated, exterior untreated and exterior treated. condemned engine oil was applied on the 30 treatment samples with each sample treated with 25m1 of addaxes in two applications ( 24 hours in between coats) using the brushing method of applying preservatives. The treated and untreated building samples were then exposed to field trial test method in accordance with the American Wood Preservers Association (AWPA) Standards El -97 (1999) and the Nordic building Preservation Council (NWPC) EN 252[2006J Standards in which samples are exposed to environments and locations that are termite infested and situations similar to where the building will be used. The samples were randomly labeled with the first letter of specie, BT for untreated or TT for treated and a number. All the species were mapped on a sheet of paper and then exposed to termite infestation for six months between June and December, a period considered to have high level of termite infestations. At the end of post- infestation period, samples were recovered following the mapping sheet from both the exterior and interior environments. They were weighed for post- infestation weights and rated by three experts in building technology using a five point rating scale adopted from the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) to determine the levels of deterioration and termite infestation/attack.Mean and Percentages were used to analyze data for the additives while mean, standard deviation, t-test and one way analysis of variance(ANOVA) were used for analyzing the extent of building infestation and deterioration at 0.01 level of significance. The statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS-Version 16) was used for the analysis.