# Forum Home Renovation Flooring  Yellow Tongue Particle board vs Borer

## Leviathon

Hi,
I am after some advice regarding the best way to replace my current baltic pine floor boards (that sit under carpet) which have been significantly affected by Anobium borers. The cheapest cost effective way to do so would be preferable. The house is about 80 years old and I cannot confirm if the borer are still active but am assuming they are as some of the floor boards have started to give way.
My current plans are as follows:
Replace all the baltic pine with Yellow Tongue particle board and re-lay the carpet above the yellow tongue. Bunnings have Yellow tongue for about $36 a sheet (3600x900). Is yellow tongue something borer will avoid?
While replacing the floor boards I plan to improve the underfloor ventilation wherever possible.

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## scooter

From memory, the y/tongue that we keep at bunnings is the carter hold harvey product, Structaflor. They make a Termiflor product, that is treated for termites.  
Cheers..................Sean

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## redheeler

I had the same problem. You may find thay you need to replace the odd joist or two as well as boards. Something to keep in mind are joist centres. I had centres from 450 to 500mm so I used red tongue at 22mm thick. No flex and has a more solid feel underfoot. 
redheeler

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## bpj1968

May as well check your stumps at the same time and beef up any that are suspect

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## scooter

Checked price of Termiflor on computer at work today, about $43 against $34 for y/tongue.  
Cheers....................Sean

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## Leviathon

Thanks for the advice.
Archicentre had advised that it would be worth replacing the wood stumps with concrete ones sometime in the medium term so I'm trying to weigh up the options at the moment as wether to do it all in one hit or not.
The current boards are 19mm boards so my thinking is that the Yellow tongue would be easier to retro fit (under walls etc...) than red tongue.
Any idea if Termiflor is overkill for borer?

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## Dirty Doogie

How tall are the underhouse stumps that may need work? If they are low stumps eg under 900mm) and you are ripping floorboards out then this would be the time to redo the stumps if they are low. You can get next to them to dig, drill etc. 
I'm not sure that your flooring would extend under all the walls - a lot of old houses usually have "cut in" floors - but getting the same thickness chipboard floor will save having to redo your skirting boards if you are taking all the old flooring out.

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## Leviathon

The house is on a slope therefore the subfloor is probably about 600-700mm at the front of the house increasing to over 1100mm at the back of the house. The front and sides of the house are brick walls with a few old stumps sitting within the brickwork. The stumps embeded in the front brick wall seem to be in average condition compared to the others.

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