Pre-Construction Anti-Termite Treatment in Dubai & Sharjah

A termite barrier works only if it is continuous, and on a building site most of the soil that needs treating is reachable for a few days at most. The excavation is open until the blinding is cast, the backfill is loose until it is compacted, and the under-slab soil is exposed until the polythene sheet and the concrete go on. Miss one of those windows and the only way back to that soil is through concrete.

So the job is planned against the programme, not booked as a single visit. Agree at the start how much notice your site engineer will give before each stage, and make sure nobody pours, covers or backfills over a stage until it has been treated and recorded. On a villa the four stages typically fall across several weeks; on a larger building they repeat by zone as the footprint is built out.

Once excavation for the footings, raft or retaining walls is complete and trimmed, the floor and the sides of the pit and trenches are treated before the blinding concrete is cast. This is the deepest layer of the barrier and the one that protects the footings themselves. The soil should be at formation level, free of standing water and not freshly flooded, because a waterlogged pit carries the termiticide away instead of holding it.

After the footings, neck columns and grade beams are cast and the formwork struck, the soil returned around them is treated as the backfill goes in, so the soil in contact with the concrete is treated through its depth rather than only on top. Where the specification calls for backfill in compacted layers, treatment follows the layers. This is the stage most often skipped on a busy site, because backfilling is fast, and it is where the record matters most.

When the ground under the future slab has been levelled and compacted, and the drainage and services are in, the whole footprint is treated before the polythene sheet and the slab are laid. Pipes, conduits, sleeves and expansion joints get particular attention, because the gap around a pipe passing through a slab is the route termites use most. Ideally the polythene follows the treatment the same day, so the treated surface is not disturbed by foot traffic or rain.

The last stage is a treated band of soil along the external walls, done after the plinth protection and apron are finished and before final landscaping. It closes the line between the treated soil under the building and the ground outside. If a pool, a garden room or new planting later cuts through that band, it needs re-treating, and the record tells the next contractor where it runs.

Notice before each stage, as agreed at the start. Clear access to the area, with materials and formwork moved off the surface to be treated. Soil that is not waterlogged and not about to be flooded by curing water. No pour, backfill or polythene over a stage until we have treated it and the site engineer has seen the record. And a call before anyone digs through a treated area later in the build.

Each stage is recorded on the day: the stage, the date, the area treated, the location on the drawing, the product applied and the technician who applied it. Keep every stage record with the building file. A consultant, a developer or a later buyer can read from it exactly what is in the ground and where.