Bora-Care - Questions & Answers

If you are dealing with drywood termite the best product for treatment in an attic whether for eliminating a current colony or just as prevention, would be the Boracare. Boracare can be applied with a paint brush or sprayer directly to any raw natural wood surface to protect the surface for the life of the wood. The Boracare will soak in and penetrate the wood to treat it as a whole and will not be removed unless consumed by an insect or the wood itself is removed from the home.

Boracare needs to be mixed and diluted with water no matter how much or little you are using. So if you only need a few ounces, mix 1 or 2 ounces of Boracare with 1 or 2 ounces of hot water. As long as you keep the dilution at the correct rate you can mix up as little or as much as needed. 

No, you cannot save the diluted BORACARE solution. Once mixed, BORACARE should be used within 24 hours or discarded.

We would recommend using Boracare. Apply only to bare wood or to wood surfaces where an intact water repellent or finish is not present. For preventative measures, you will use 5 gallons of very hot water with 1 gallon of Boracare. You can either paint this on or spray it on. Once the product dries, you can do whatever you wanted to do with the fence. We would recommend not spraying when anyone is around. It normally dries within 2-3 hours. Please let us know if you have any additional questions.

Boracare lasts for the life of the wood if it is not exposed to rain, continuous water or ground contact. The amount of time Boracare lasts in the wood will depend upon those factors. There is no specific guarentee because some conditions are more or less favorable than others. In your case, we would recommend using a sealent of some kind after the application of Boracare. Do not expose treated exterior wood surfaces to rain or snow for at least 48 hours after treatment. For longer performance, exterior wood surfaces will require a topcoating with a water-resistant finish such as paint or exterior stain. Apply within 6 weeks of treatment. Boracare must dry completely (at least 48 hours) before applying any protective topcoat. If there is a current infestation, you will do a 1:1 application of Boracare. If this is just for preventative measure, you will do 5:1 application. Make sure the water is very hot when you are spraying it.

Yes, you should cut the wood to the final size before treating with Boracare. You do not want to waste the product on wood that will not be used. Yes, Boracare can be painted on the oak. Yes, you can treat both sides. You will use a 1:1 ratio of Boracare for an active infestation. Once the product is dry, you can do whatever you want with the wood, such as staining it. If you would like to treat the other wood, you can. If you have not seen activity though, it may not be necessary. Let me know if you have any additional questions.

The regular Bora Care will not prevent mold growth. However, the Bora Care with Mold Care will kill and prevent future mold growth on a variety of surfaces including wood, cellulosic drywall (sheetrock), and concrete. You may paint surfaces after you have treated with Bora Care with Mold Care and allowed it to fully dry whichshould take about 72 hours.

Currently, Bora-Care is only offered in a gallon size concentrated container.

Boracare is specifically designed to be applied to plywood and any other raw wood surface that hasn't been stained or finished with anything like paint or a sealant. 

This could be numerous types of wood destroying insects. We would recommend to apply Boracare to the wood very directly with a paint brush.

Yes, BoraCare may be used on wood that is currently and/or previously infested by termites. Please read the product label for complete use instructions.

No, Boracare is not labeled for carpenter bees.

For carpenter bees, we would recommend using our Carpenter Bee Kit. It has everything inside of it to do a complete treatment for bees.

Please also check out our Carpenter Bee Guide for wonderful tips on how to treat and prevent them in the future.

Boracare will not be absorbed into wood that is stained or treated. If the wood is stripped down to the bare, exposed wood, then you could apply Boracare before re-painting or re-staining the wood. If this is not possible, then you may want to consider having a local pest control company fumigating the piece of furniture to kill any existing insects in it.

No Bora-Care,  like any other borate product, cannot be used on trees or plants.  It is for cut lumber only.  Borates will kill any living plant, shrub, grass or tree.  Termites do not attack live, healthy trees.  If you have termites in a tree you would need to treat the nest directly by drilling holes into the dead parts of the tree where the colony is infested.  This can be done with something like Dominion 2L.  Most people are primarily concerned with protecting the big investment, their home, and Dominion or or Termidor would be the best product to use for that.  Termidor is the top product and can last 10 years in the soil, whereas Dominion will only last 5-7 years.  It is only labeled to be used adjacent to the structure, though.

We sell the product Boracare and are happy to assist you with ordering and using that product. We are unable to offer advice on how to create or manufacture chemicals.

We understand that the Boracare label can be tricky to follow. The text is referring to a gallon of undiluted solution, which makes 2 gallons of finished solution, while the chart is referring to diluted solution. So, one gallon of concentrate makes 2 gallons of finished solution when diluted at a 1:1 ratio, and that total amount of 2 gallons of finished solution covers 1,600 square feet (800 per gallon of dilution).

Per the SDS, Bora-Care is not flammable. We would not recommend applying this product near open flames.

Bora-Care will penetrate through the wood and kill any insect eating the wood no matter where they are in the wood.  However, it can only be applied to raw wood so you would need to apply it to the side that is not painted.  It cannot be applied to wood that is painted, stained, or sealed.  If your wood is painted, stained, or sealed, then you will need to drill holes and inject Bora-Care or sand the finish off of the wood, treat with Bora-Care, and then refinish the wood

Boracare is a very viscous liquid that needs to be thoroughly mixed with warm -hot water and thinned out before application. The label states that it can be applied by sprayer or by painting or rolling the product on but we are not sure that submerging the wood in the solution will be a proper application as it should only be applied until wet and not to the point of run off or oversaturation. 

Powderpost beetles can lay dormant for years in the wood and Boracare will not kill them until they are actively feeding.  Even after applying a product like Boracare to all sides of the infested raw wood (ideal situation) you can often still see signs of activity of the powder post beetles for a few years after treatment. This is because the product works through ingestion so as the larvae emerge from the wood (which is whenever they are good and ready) they eat the wood on their way out and ingest it and die. No new adults will be able to leave them in any holes in the wood as again, once they ingest it they will die.

Placing treated wood in a sealed bag will not increase the speed at which this happens.  If it is just one piece of furniture that is infested and you want a quicker kill, you can also contact local furniture finishers or pest control operators who may offer a heat chamber. Heating the furniture up to over 140 degrees for several hours will any pest that is inside where dormant or not.