Fungus is likely one of the largest contributors to wood and sheetrock damage that there is today. Leaky roofs and leaky pipes are the most frequent contributors.  Seeping pipes inside the walls, under the house, inside the slab. The soil in this area moves around between wet and dry, one area west of San Antonio, 5 ½ inches. No slab or pipe can stand up to that.
We in the pest control business have known for some time, that boric acid, borate, Disodium Octoborate Tetrahydrate (DOT) will kill some fungus. This coating will penetrate to the roots of the fungus on framing lumber. Disodium Octoborate Tetrahydrate is odorless and is already millions of years old; we don’t change the chemical composition. We dissolve it in water and spray or fog it on a surface, the water evaporates leaving a tenacious, crystalline coating. This liquid sprayed on wood, will soak into the surface ¼ to 3/8 of an inch and is there forever unless exposed to continuous running water. The one day flood we had here in the Texas Hill Country in the fall of ’98 does not qualify as running water, nor does the 2001 flood in Houston We also put a granular DOT at where the water pipes penetrate the floors.

Our whole house borate treatment now qualifies for four green building points, whereas the incomplete exterior wall treatment of other companies only gets three points. Their treatment only protects the exterior walls, not the interior walls against termites and fungi.