Termite: problem and prevention / Siti Farhanah Baharudin

According to Associate Professor Dr. A Ghafar Ahmad in his article of 'Understanding Building Defect' termite problem was one of the major defects in building. Termite can attack any part of building which contain its source of food that is cellulose. Not only the timber being attack but any component contain cellulose will be attack such as furniture, box, papers and others. In building the appearance of termite usually when the condition is bad. The goal of study to provide useful data to owner or people around about termite attack so people will more aware to termite problem and their prevention. Within this study some objectives been formulated: 1. Study detail about nature and behaviors of termite 2. To identify most place attack by termite and its prevention 3. To determine how alertness of owner to this termite attack at their house This study done on 50 terrace houses selected randomly at Seksyen 19 Shah Alam. Data collected by distributing the questionnaire to the occupant. The questionnaires were developed based on the objectives of the research. From the observation on site it will determine the effect of termite attack and identify the place most being attack by termite according to respondents answers which will be recorded on the checklist form. Besides that it will discover the owner awareness towards this termite problem, how they manage and how they prevent it from occur again. From the research, the result was collected which the treatment either appoint pest control specialist or doing by self to overcome this problem depends on the location, effect on the material, and budget. The owner is the first parties to give alertness for this problem from the early stage before become worse. The data obtained was analyzed and the overall findings of the analysis were presented. The findings of this research also very useful for new development of houses in urban or rural area. The detail knowledge can be gained about termite attack to the public owner to know the symptom and the types of prevention to be used for this problem. This research concludes and discusses the best solution and also gives recommendation to prevent this problem happen involve in pre and post construction.