If you read through our POWDER POST BEETLE CONTROL ARTICLE, you'll learn that in fact one of the more common ways to treat for wood destroying pests like powder post beetles is to "tent" and fumigate the infested structure. So to answer your question about whether or not this option is "realistic"; the answer is yes. Tenting and fumigation is a very effective way to kill what's active and in theory, eradicate the problem. From the service companies view, it's smart for two main reasons. 1) It's a lot of work for their employees with a large price tag and 2), it's the best way for them to eliminate the risk of the beetles appearing elsewhere in the structure. Remember, if they don't do a good treatment and the beetles are found somewhere else in the structure, chances are high their customer will be upset. Tenting and fumigation tends to minimize such complaint calls and from a liability perspective, a smart way to handle such treatments. But due to the extreme cost of the process, it's not always the most practical for the customer. It sounds like this is the case regarding your church.

Fortunately there are options. One of the best is the BORACARE we recommend throughout our article. Boracare both penetrates wood real well and lasts for many years making it ideally suited for wood destroying pests. A good treatment would no doubt kill off the active larvae in the wood you treat as well as protect it for many years from reinfestation. But remember the one drawback of using Boracare is that only the wood you treat will be protected. In most cases we suggest treating as much of the structure as possible and in this case I would recommend the same. The treatment itself isn't that costly; it's really the labor involved that can take both time and patience. But when it comes to saving cash, this would be one of the best ways your church could save a huge expense and help to protect their structure for many, many years to come.

Give us a call if you need to discuss how much product you might need to use or if you have any other question. Our toll free is 1-800-877-7290.

Here are direct links to the information and products listed above:

Powder Post Beetle Article:  http://www.powderpostbeetles.com/powderpost-beetle-control

Boracare:  http://www.bugspray.com/catalog/products/page52.html

Thanks for your forum and for your reply.

As explained in our POWDERPOST BEETLE CONTROL ARTICLE, the emerging beetles are adults which have just recently hatched from pupae development. And though they could migrate away from the flooring to some other wood in the home, I wouldn't be too worried about it actually happening. Based on the amount of bamboo seemingly everywhere in the house, I would focus your attention on those pieces for now as I'm sure any adults will be doing the same (unless of course you have lots of other bamboo pieces throughout the structure).

The treatment option you highlighted above would in fact be the best overall approach to getting rid of the beetle infestation. Stripping the floor of it's current finish will be required if you want to use BORACARE. Though tedious to do, it's really the only option unless you choose to simply remove and replace all of the flooring. Bamboo is subject to many kinds of wood boring pests and a good treatment of Boracare would no doubt preserve it indefinitely so if you like the look and want to keep it, I'm sure the effort will be worth the benefit. The good news bamboo is easy to treat and overall treatments work well.

After the wood is prepared, be sure to vacuum away all the dust making the wood open to the treatment as much as possible. If you need some help calculating how much material you'll need to use, give us a call toll free at 1-800-877-7290 and help.

Here are direct links to the information and products listed above:

Powderpost Beetle Control:  http://www.powderpostbeetles.com/powderpost-beetle-control

Boracare:  http://www.bugspray.com/catalog/products/page52.html

The frame should be treated like any other piece of wood; either the BORACARE or the JECTA GEL would do a good job of taking care of problem

If the infestation is active, there is no doubt more beetles will emerge.

Powder post beetles only eat wood so the fabric is not at risk directly from the insects.

There is always the risk that any piece of furniture or part of the structure that demonstrates an active powder post beetle problem can lead to other items made of wood getting infested too.

Treat as explained in our POWDERPOST BEETLE CONTROL article. The section on furniture treatments applies to this picture frame.

Here are direct links to the information and products listed above:

Boracare:  http://www.bugspray.com/catalog/products/page52.html

Jecta Gel:  http://www.bugspray.com/catalog/products/page156.html

Powder Post Beetle Control Article:  http://www.powderpostbeetles.com/powderpost-beetle-control#furniture_beetle_treatments

K.,

Sorry to hear about the armoire problem; hopefully it's not too bad and with a little attention you'll be able to take care of the infestation yourself. The key is being able to get good penetration when treating and as our POWDERPOST BEETLE CONTROL article explains, wood can do this naturally when it's still "raw" and unfinished.

But apparently the wood in question here has some type of finish as your message states. So, with that in mind, I can say there is still a chance it can be successfully treated with the Boracare if the stain is not oil based and will allow water to penetrate. This will many times happen if the finish is old and worn. Typically we see stain finishes on the outside of buildings break down so Boracare can be applied over the top successfully. I'm not sure that will be the case here since the Armoire has not been kept outside nor is it old. Still you can test it first to see.

To test the "strength" of the finish, put some water on the surface of the wood in areas where you think it may be able to soak in. This is usually where the wood is rough and many times on the back side of the furniture. If you find areas like this give them a test to see. Look to see if the water is readily accepted by the wood or if it appears to "bead up" or "roll off". If you find some of th water does soak in, the next question would be if you have enough of these "vulnerable" locations on the wood to get a treatment with Boracare to be effective. Remember, BORACARE has special penetrating solvents and ingredients so it will actually penetrate much better than water itself. If you cannot find any weak, worn or finished areas where water will readily absorb, I'm afraid the only way you'll be able to ensure a good treatment will be to sand and strip the surface of the armoire. If done in enough areas, you should be able to get the Boracare to penetrate and solve the problem. And remember this wouldn't have to be done on the front, exposed side. There could be strategic locations on the back or bottom where it's kind of "out of sight". This way the unfinishing will be hard to see or even notice.

Lastly, if you aren't willing to unfinish the piece enough for a thorough Boracare treatment, you could opt to use the JECTA GEL or even a combination of both products. As explained in our FURNITURE TREATMENT FOR BEETLES section, it's very much a viable option that can be used successfully. In this case you will have to drill out access holes which will have to be done in out of sight locations but this can really help. And a combination of both products may be whats needed to get good coverage without major changes to the current finish. If you have further questions, give the office a call at 1.800.877.7290 and we may be able to suggest some more options after we get to ask a few questions.

Boracare needs to be applied to the wood directly to have the desired effect. This means the wall paper will have to be removed first if you want to treat with using Boracare. This would be an ideal treatment and will stand the most chance of getting rid of the problem immediately, with just one application being done. That being said, it will also be the most effective approach so it would be worth the time, effort and cost if you are set to get rid of the problem once and for all. Alternatively you could opt to apply the Baygon Aerosol we have featured through small entry "holes" you would need to drill through the wall and wall paper. This means for the time being you could do a treatment without having to remove the wall paper which would be easier and less time consuming and costly. Generally I don't like to suggest such an approach but in this case it might work. The reason I say this is because the wood behind the wall is undoubtedly thin. This means the Baygon stands a good chance of penetrating to some degree which in theory could allow it to have a good impact and maybe even control the problem without the Boracare having to be applied. I'm saying this only because in my experience I have seen thin wood used in such areas of different RV's. That being said, if you know the wood behind the wall is thick or have any other reason to believe it might be thick, opening up the wall and treating with the Boracare directly would still be ideal.

One last option worth mentioning would be the Jecta Gel. I know this material would do the job too but I'm afraid too many holes would be required to get enough into the target wood so I don't think this is a feasible option but worth a mention just the same. The Baygon could be used with less holes and with each one needed a lot smaller. The Jecta Gel would require much larger diameter holes and more of them as well so I would rule this option out first.

If you have further questions, please give us a call at 1.800.877.7290.