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How to landscape side of house with termite reticulation and pit?

Hi, we have a new built home and at the side is a termite reticulation (circled red) and pit (circled blue).

I am required to place enough material to cover the termite reticulation system (as part of the certification inspection process). I don't know what I can do to achieve that, yet prevent weeds from sprouting again in the future. Do I need to place edging all the way along side of the house wall? How do I prevent material from dropping into the pit (and thus clogging the pit) - do I use edging to box around the pit?

I heard something about sandy loam mixture and maybe decomposed granite but I have never used them before. Will using these all along this side of the house achieve the above? Which material comes first or is just one of them sufficient? The reticulation pipe looks quite high above the ground so it does look like I have to purchase quite a lot of the material?

This side of the house slopes downwards from the back of the house to the front therefore, I don't think I am able to make it pretty by putting pavers and the like....

Any suggestions greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Dead side of house.jpg

It slopes downwards from back to front

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Comments

MitchellMc

Hi @karl07,

The issue I see is that the bottom of the fence is lower than the height of the termite reticulation. So, if you were to simply add fill to the slope, it would be up against your fence panels, which is not a good idea as the weight of the fill can push the panel out. I'd suggest that creating retaining walls/edging would help avoid this. You could run one down the fence line and then fill the area, boxing in the drain or having it raised if required. Another solution might be to run a concrete sleepers, about 150mm out from the house wall. You could then fill this section up with gravel to cover the termite reticulation. You'll need to confirm whether the reticulation needs to be below ground level or if it simply needs to be covered.

Let me tag @Dave-1 for his thoughts.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell

Dave-1

Morning @karl07

I havnt come across that type of termite protection before.

I do like @MitchellMc's suggestion about installing some concrete sleepers about 150mm off the wall of the house.

I would then use this product Strol 0.5m² SurePave Plastic Pavers to lock in gravel so it stays freedraining and less chance of weeds. I would probarlly only ise this on the steeper section of the side path and then keeping the gravel you use the same depth on the flatter area. Mainly so you dont add to the weight of the fence it may also be wise to put an edge down the fence so the gravel dosnt touch it.

7-8mm gravel is what I am thinking, weedmat underneath but I am not a fan of weedmat 🙂

For the covering of the termite barrior, Id actually go with white pebbles to give ita nice clean straight line look.

Dave

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