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termitebarrier.com.au

Sheet 00General arrangementNot to scale

The termite barrier, drawn in section

Cut a new house through its slab and the termite barrier is a line on the drawing: under the concrete, around its edge, around the pipes that pass through it. The building code calls the whole arrangement a termite management system. Its job is to cut the risk of termites reaching the main parts of a building by a hidden route; it does not stop termites being active on the site.

A guide to termite barriers in plain words, published by Dotto from the official sources listed at the foot of each page: the National Construction Code, the Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC), the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) and state government guidance.

Five sheets

One drawing, five questions

Each number on the drawing below is a sheet of this guide. Most of the rules are national. Where a state or territory changes one, the sheet says which.

A section through a slab on the ground, with the termite barrier in amber A drawn cross-section. On the right, a concrete slab sits on the soil, with a thicker edge beam at the outside wall. A brick-veneer wall and its timber frame stand on the slab. An amber barrier line runs up the outer face of the edge beam, under it, and along the whole underside of the slab. A waste pipe passes down through the slab with an amber collar around it. Outside, a band of treated soil runs beside the edge beam, a meter box is fixed to the wall, and a garden bed is kept back from the wall. Numbered circles mark the frame (1), the meter box (2), the pipe collar (3), the treated soil (4) and the gap between the garden and the wall (5). 1 2 3 4 5
A drawing, not a construction detail: a concrete slab on the ground under a brick-veneer wall, with the barrier line in amber. Not to scale.
  1. What the building code requires

    Part 3.4 of the code: when a building needs a termite management system, and what that system has to be.

  2. The durable notice

    The notice fixed to the building, usually in the meter box: what the code says it must record, and how to read each line of it.

  3. Physical and chemical barriers

    Mesh, graded stone and treated soil: how each one works, and where each one is weakest.

  4. Termiticides and the APVMA

    How termite chemicals are registered, who controls their use, and the regulator’s 2024 decision on chlorpyrifos.

  5. Keeping a barrier working

    Queensland’s list of what owners should and should not do, reproduced whole, with its clearances drawn.

Title block

The four documents behind every barrier

The title block in the corner of a drawing says what the drawing answers to. For a termite barrier there are four documents, and every sheet of this guide comes back to them.

The code
NCC Housing Provisions, Part 3.4Termite risk management: the national rules for when a Class 1 or 10 building, such as a house or a private garage, needs a termite management system, and what it must be.
The standard
AS 3660.1Termite Management, New Building Work. The code references it, and it is one of a trilogy: Part 2 deals with existing buildings and Part 3 with assessing termite management systems.
The notice
Clause 3.4.3A durable notice, permanently fixed to the building in a prominent location such as the meter box.
The register
The pesticides registerWhere a chemical system is used, the chemical must be on it. The APVMA currently coordinates the registration scheme.

QBCC’s booklet notes that the Australian Standards it mentions can be purchased, so this guide works from the code and from official summaries of the standards.

Why a system

Why the code asks for a system, not a wall

There are more than 350 species of termites in Australia, and about 30 of them cause costly damage to building structures, the code’s explanatory note says. It adds that, because of the nature of termites, it is extremely difficult to stop them gaining access to a building.

The risk depends on the place. The same note says termites are not considered a risk in Tasmania and are a lesser risk in parts of Victoria, and that the appropriate authority may have records of termite activity for each area.

The ways in are small. QBCC lists wall cavities, cracks in mortar or concrete slabs, and the voids beside service entry points. A termite management system is designed to block those hidden routes and push termites into the open, where their mud tunnels are easier to spot, the Victorian Building Authority explains.

That is why the code’s note puts so much weight on what happens after the builder leaves: besides correct installation, a system’s effectiveness relies on regular maintenance and competent inspection.