Powderpost Beetle Control, Treatments and Prevention » wood flooring

bore holes and powder in hardwood floors

admin — Sun, 29 May 2011 11:57:27 +0000

Our house was built in 2006. Every year since then, around this time of year, we've noticed the bore holes and powder in our hardwood floors. It seems to be localized to the kitchen only. Last year and 1 time so far this year, we were able to catch the beetle. It looks like a Powderpost Beetle. We have about 7 holes in our floors. I SO worried about this. Is there anything that can be done short of pulling up the floors and replacing them? Our floors are in great shape otherwise.

You have two options. You could simply remove the finish on the hardwood floors and treat them with the BORACARE listed in our HARDWOOD FLOOR TREATMENT section of our article. As you'll learn, this would most definitely take care of them and in the process, help you to avoid excessive cost, work and frustration.

Your second option would be to rip up and remove the existing floors and install new ones. However, you will still need to treat. This will insure you don't have a problem with the new floors being installed. As our article explains, this pest is quite commonly found in most any kind of wood flooring and the only way to insure you don't have them is to treat the wood prior to applying any kind of stain or sealant.

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

Boracare: http://www.bugspraycart.com/insecticide/liquid/boracare-gal

Hardwood Floor Treatment: http://www.powderpostbeetles.com/powderpost-beetle-control#wood_floor_beetle_treatment

deterioration of wood floor from beetles?

admin — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 23:07:17 +0000

I recently notice small holes and some deterioration of a piece of wood in between rooms of our house. Our house was built in late 1900's. I had to companies come in to advise me and give a quote. The first one said they can treat the beetle from the basement and will spray the bottom of the floor and will guarantee it for 18 months for $550.00. The 2nd said there isn't much we can do about it since the wood is stained on the top of the floor and anything they would do would not penetrate and they didn't feel application from the basement would penetrate enough and be worth it. I then Googled and came up with your site. I guess my question is how do I know if I still have them? I know you show products, but if I already have an insecticide which is a systemic then can't I spray with that, like I did my living trees outside?

If you read the wood floor section of our POWDER POST BEETLE CONTROL ARTICLE, you'll learn there are a couple of options available to get control of a local infestation. To answer your last question first: no, a systemic like you've used on trees will not work on wood flooring. The main reason is that a systemic is carried through a tree or plant via the sap of the vegetation. The BORACARE or JECTA GEL listed in our article penetrates because it has special solvents in the mix which enable it to perform this way.

Regarding your question about whether or not you still have them; there really isn't any sure fire way to know. In fact I've seen cases where they're coming out in the open and their sawdust is clearly evident. This is an easy one to figure out. But many times they release or exit in areas you cannot see and can do this for years without detection. And then there are the cases where activity dries up and all the living beetles die but years later damaged wood is detected or found. In this scenario most people wonder if it's new or active and again, that can be a tough bit of information to ascertain so the accepted way to deal with it is to assume it's active unless you've treated the problem before in the past.

In summary, if the flooring hasn't been treated before, I suggest you either hire the first company who quoted you or get some Boracare/Jecta Gel and do the work yourself.

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

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

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

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

selling house with wood flooring problem

admin — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 14:24:10 +0000

Hello. We were under contract to sell our home and discovered that we have active powder post beetles in our wood floors (we put them in ourselves 3 years ago). Terminix recommended stripping the floors bare and treating with BoraCare but could only provide a one year guarantee to retreat (but the floors would have to be stripped again to treat at that point at the expense of our buyer). We informed the buyer of their recommendation and we were willing to do the refinishing and treatment, but the bank pulled out and would not fund the loan due to the nature of the problem and the fact that we would only have a one year guarantee. We have read to "wait and see" or strip and treat, but we will need to move from this home in the next 3 years (at most) and it will be next to impossible to sell with a "wait and see" or a one year guarantee for treatment but not finishing expenses. We are currently thinking we should rip all of the flooring out to completely take care of the problem. The inspector found no evidence of ppb damage in our crawlspace or the subflooring. We only have one small area that's "active" but it has hundreds of holes, has spread to 3-4 boards and we find the white frass every once in awhile. What is your recommendation for the best guarantee for future buyers? We just want this house to be sellable and not saddle ourselves or anyone else with a huge problem!!!

More on selling house with wood flooring problem

bug damage to wood

admin — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:47:52 +0000

I have a 70 yr old home with original wood floors. I live in central FL. Recently I have noticed long marks that look like deep scratches. Some of them are quite deep and about 1/8 – 1/4 inch wide and 3 or 4 inches long. In certain areas the damage is getting worse pretty fast. I have lived here for 8 years and this has just been going on for about 6 months. I have dogs and thought at first that their nails were damaging the floor.
I have asked my termite place about it but have not gotten a satisfactory answer.
Any and all suggestions for what it can be and how to treat it will be accepted.

It will be hard for me to tell for sure just what is going on here without more information or actually seeing the problem. I have been dealing with this kind of "activity" for over 30 years so I've seen a wide range of reasons why or what could be involved. For starters, is the structure a slab home or basement/crawl space structure? More importantly, is the wood flooring resting on a concrete slab or on floor joists?

Also, has the house been treated recently for termites or powderpost beetles? And though you say "this has just been going on for about 6 months", is it possible you didn't notice the damage before?

As I stated above, it's quite hard to determine what could be causing this problem without a good physical inspection. If you forward some pictures, I might be able to notice something I've seen before that could help narrow the choices. But for the sake of helping you understand what's going on, here are some options.

1) It could be old damage. I've seen galleries and other wood damage "hold up" for many years and in some cases not for 10 or more years start to show the true extent of what happened so long ago. Is it possible or does it look like this new damage is something that could have been cosmetically altered some 10-20 years ago and is only now coming apart?

2) If the wood is laying on a concrete slab, you could have termites. They almost always bring in mud and moisture and either would be obvious in the damage you're now seeing. Can you tell if eitehr is present?

3) There are some species of wood boring beetles which lay quiet and somewhat dormant for long periods or time. But based on the home being 70 years old, if there was such an infestation I'm sure one of the "cycles" would have matured several years ago after you first moved in. For it to go this long without you noticing anything lends me to believe it's either old damage or something new.

4) Have you discovered any type of live or dead bug throughout the home? I would inspect by windows and lights or against the wall somewhere. Pay particular attention if you find more than one of something.

In summary, if you supply me with more information, I might be able to do a better "long distance" assessment. Alternatively, you could give us a call. Before you do, I suggest you read our online POWDER POST BEETLE CONTROL article which explains how different infestations are handled in the home. The section on wood flooring would pertain to you for sure.

jonathan