bamboo flooring with beetles
We live in Hawaii and recently purchased a 3-year-old home with solid bamboo prefinished flooring installed almost everywhere. The seller had disclosed that several boards in the flooring had been replaced because of powderpost beetle infestation and we thought the problem was solved. However just days before we closed, we found evidence of emergence of more beetles from the bamboo flooring in a totally different location. The evidence was pinpoint holes surrounded with half-inch circles of fine white powder.
We negotiated a settlement with the owner which gives us some extra funds for correcting the problem. Our questions to you: Would an effective treatment be to remove the surface finish, treat the bamboo with Boracare, and seal the floor with a new finish? Should we be concerned that the infestation may have spread to other wood in the house?
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
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Comments on bamboo flooring with beetles
guest @ 7:56 pm
We were visiting my inlaws last night and they mentioned that they are having difficulty with maintaining their cork floors. A fine talc like powder keeps appearing on their floors, more so in one area(bedroom). They had new cork flooring put in about a year ago and they say this problem has existed for a while now. Could this be a sign of beetle damage? Would the powderpost beetle infest a cork floor? Thanks for any info. Oh yes, there is no dusty material on any of the furniture that resembles what has shown up on the floor.
Thanks for any insight you might have.
admin @ 8:11 pm
@guest: In fact there are many kinds of beetles that can live in cork. In recent years there has been a notable increase of attacks to young cork oak trees by the ambrosia beetle which has long been thought to only infest older, not so healthy plants. Other Buprestid and Formicidae beetles can infest cork flooring not to mention the long list of other pests like ants, cork moths or wine moths. These other pests aren't eating the wood but instead are just living inside it. Basically females will readily take advantage of all the nooks, cracks and crevices most any cork has available. Such spaces serve as a great place for eggs to be laid where they'll be protected from predators and adverse weather. After hatching they'll either eat their way out (if they're cellulose feeders) or instead chew their way out (commonly done by ants). Either case can result in the creation of a fine, talc like powder and certainly a damaged floor.
Lastly, I've seen where resident beetles can be living in the sub flooring below the cork floor and upon maturation, chew their way out of both the sub flooring and the cork floor above. Unless some of the guilty insects are found and identified, it can become anyones "guess" as to what might be doing the damage at your inlaws. In the end, a good treatment with something like the Boracare mentioned above will mostly be needed to knock them out for good.
guest @ 1:42 pm
We have just installed Bamboo floors on a Project. This Bamboo flooring came from China. Now we are noticing what we think is the Powerpost beatle boring holes in a section of the flooring. What would cause this to happen?
admin @ 2:08 pm
@guest: I'm not sure I understand your question because in the first part of your comment, you point out that what you're seeing you think are powderpost beetles. In fact that is exactly the problem. As our article explains, processed wood will many times have powderpost beetles in it. Once the finished item arrives at someone's home, it's only a matter of time before the pupae hatch and adults begin to emerge. At this point it's safe to say the flooring you installed has activity and the holes you see are pupae that are emerging.
Did you not treat the wood before installing it with some Boracare? If not, I suggest you get it treated now or if you decide to replace it with another type of wood, be sure to treat it before the installation is complete or else it too will be subject to infestation. Here are direct links to the information and products listed above:
PPB Article: http://www.powderpostbeetles.com/powderpost-beetle-control#wood_floor_beetle_treatment
Boracare: http://www.bugspraycart.com/insecticide/liquid/boracare-gal