Timbor and Bora-Care are 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.
Tim-bor Professional will only penetrate ¼ inch into the wood so it would not be recommended to treat active infestations, only for prevention. Boracare is a better option, as it will penetrate deeper and will dry clear when applied as directed.
Tim-bor Professional should be mixed at a rate of at least 1.5 pounds to one gallon of water.
No, Timbor is only used directly on wood.
It is recommended that you use something like Termidor SC or Taurus SC to inject into the ground. This product will last for up to 10 years in the soil once applied. Please check out our Termite Guide for tips on how to treat and prevent termites in the future.
According to the manufacturer, you can use mild soap and water to clean up any residue left behind after applying Tim-bor Professional. After cleaning with the soap and water mixture, be sure to rinse the area with clean water so there is no soapy residue left behind. This may have to be done more than once.
Tim-bor Professional should not be mixed with bleach or other products. It should be diluted with water as directed only.
Normally we would recommend using Boracare instead of Timbor on wood that is planning to be stained, since Timbor leaves a white powdery residue on the surface of the wood that often needs to be cleaned off or removed prior to applying the stain. When mixed thoroughly before spraying, Boracare would dry clear and not change the appearance of the wood. That being said, yes you can apply any type of stain, paint, or finish to wood after your initial application of Timbor or Boracare has been able to try completely on the wood surface. This could be a few hours to a few days depending on how heavy the product was applied and how quickly the wood absorbs the product.
Tim-bor Professional or Bora-Care can only be applied to raw wood. Painting, staining, sealing etc can be done after the application has completely dried. If the wood cannot be sanded to original form and treated, you may want to look into fumigating the furniture in your area.
While Timbor Professional can be used to spray under the home on raw wood for wood destroying pest prevention such as termites and beetles, it is not labeled to control any other pests than those designed to consume the wood the product is applied to. You would be better off using a more appropriate product for your needs such as Cyzmic CS to spray around the outside and under your home for millipedes and other pests.
For the best effect, please use Tim-bor Professional according to the label. Vinegar has not been tested and we do not know how it will react.
How much Timbor is used will depend on your application and the area of the spaces you are treating. Per the product label, you can inject or dust Timbor at a rate of 0.5 oz per square foot when treating wall voids for insects such as carpenter ants. If you are mixing Timbor in water and creating a foam with a foaming solution and foamer, then you would use 1.5 oz of Timbor per gallon of water and use a high expansion foam. Keep in mind that drilling into and injecting a product like Timbor into all your wall voids is a tedious and labor-intensive application that is often best left to professionals. We have a great Carpenter Ant Treatment Guide here that may better assist you.
While you could technically apply Boracare on the same wood after Timbor is applied, we recommend skipping the Timbor application if Boracare is going to be applied soon after. Applying Timbor before applying Boracare would not provide any additional benefit. Similarly, if there is not any existing insect infestation in the wood, then a Timbor application will prevent the same issues as Boracare.
Timbor can be used on raw structural wood to prevent infestation of wood-boring beetles, however we do not recommend it for existing infestations. If you need to treat wood that is already infested or in the same area as infested wood, then we recommend using Boracare instead since it is absorbed fully into the wood. Neither of these products should be used on living plants because they will kill the plants.
If you are removing structural wood that is infested with wood-boring beetles, then we recommend burning or chipping that wood and treating any new wood that is replacing it.
Timbor is labeled for the treatment of wood destroying insects only and will not kill fleas on carpeted areas. Please take a moment to look over our article on How to Get Rid of Fleas for more information on products which can successfully be used to control fleas.
Timbor can only be applied to raw wood. It would likely kill any vegetation it was applied to. If you are looking for something to apply to plants for fungus and insect control, you can use something like Bayer Advanced 3-in-1 Insect, Disease, and Mite Control.
If the new wood for your porch was pressure treated/pre treated wood, then you would not need to apply either product. Powder Post Beetles will emerge whenever it is time for them to progress from the egg stage in the wood, to larvae and then a beetle. The eggs can lay dormant in the wood for up to 30 years and there isn't a way to know how many there are or where they are in the wood. Even if you treated the porch with Boracare (the more appropriate product for your needs), you would still see some of the beetles emerge whenever that life cycle happens. The Boracare helps make sure that any that emerge die as they ingest the treated wood, and no new beetles are able to infest the wood going forward. Boracare would be the more appropriate product than Timbor, since Timbor can only penetrate 1/4 inch into the wood and will leave a white powdery substance on the surface of the wood, and Boracare will penetrate all the way through the wood and dry clear.