Does this look like termites?

2,546 Views | 7 Replies | Last: 5 yr ago by K2CT06
Gigemaggies123
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Was looking through scrap wood (we keep a quite a bit in the garage) and found this one with little holes in it. Went through the other pieces and didn't see anything on those.

Should I be worried? TIA

toolshed
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Not termites. Termites eat and tunnel along or in the direction of the grain, not bore through the board.
miley
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Looks like the work of powderpost beetles.
Gigemaggies123
How long do you want to ignore this user?
miley said:

Looks like the work of powderpost beetles.

Thanks Miley and toolshed. My inspector also said the same thing you did toolshed. Miley I googled powderpost beetles and I think you're right. Should I get an exterminator or do you think throwing away all the scrap wood would be sufficient?
miley
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Not sure it's worth the effort to treat scrap wood, but, if you want to salvage it I've got a pound or so of Tim-Bor powder that you're welcome to have. Located in Houston.

Edit: just re-read your initial post. I'd toss that board and look at the pile in another month.

You're still welcome to the pesticide if you want to treat it.
Gigemaggies123
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Thanks for the offer of pesticides but I'm in North Dallas so it would be quite a drive lol. I already tossed all of the scrap wood since I was freaking out a little. I'm more worried about the structure of the house at this point
Enviroag02
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
We had a breakfast nook table delivered from Restoration Hardware here in Dallas back in June 2017. Over the next few months I noticed little piles of saw dust that I just thought was dust rubbed loose from the joints after use. It wasn't until I started to notice the pinholes in the wood that I figured out it was powderpost beetles. This table was sitting on wood flooring right next to a wood dresser.

Restoration Hardware came and replaced it at no cost, and since then I have seen absolutely no evidence of beetles in my flooring, the adjacent dresser, or anywhere else.
Ornlu
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
In 2009, I brought home a coconut shell carving from a study abroad in Costa Rica (painted like a poison dart frog on a leaf, but made of a single piece of coconut shell). When unpacking it, I noticed a small pinhole (0.5mm or less) in one of the frogs toes. A few days later, that hole was slightly larger and plugged up with sawdust. I figured it had a live bug in there, so I put it into a jar so it couldn't get out, figuring it would suffocate. Over the course of the next 6 months, that one bug slowly ate that whole thing hollow. But it did eventually die. Now my souvenir is a sawdust and bug filled paper thin (less than 0.2mm thick) carving that's too brittle to take out of the jar.

What that a powderpost beetle too?
K2CT06
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Nope...that beetle is a jerk!
Refresh
Page 1 of 1
 
×
subscribe Verify your student status
See Subscription Benefits
Trial only available to users who have never subscribed or participated in a previous trial.