Borers?

[cresta]

Hi to all, I have two pieces of furniture - a tv unit and a coffee table that have started dropping small deposits of sawdust like material and in the case of the coffee table little piles are appearing on the top accompanied with tiny holes. I'm presuming they are some kind of borer. My question is what do I use to get rid of them and should I be panicking that they could be throughout the house?:C

Thanks in advance
cresta

[seriph1]

Hi Cresta - welcome to the forum if you haven't bee welcomed already!

definitely sounds like borer to me .... seems odd if they're new items that borer would be present, but certainly not unheard of! any chance of a few pics?

The things to consider are:

Did one of these pieces bring the borer in or was it there already?
Are any other pieces of furniture or flooring etc. affected?

Personally, I would place the items outside but that's mainly because we have a house full of antiques. I managed to eradicate one lot of borer in a chest of drawers by placing it inside two large garbage bags along with a can of Pea Beau and once sealed, emptying the can inside the bag. I left it all for a few days from memory and I believe that got rid of the little suckers .... there were certainly plenty of dead critters in the bag. In Melbourne there are furniture fumigators at the docks, who evacuate whole containers full of stuff, then inject some kind of chemical into them..... this kills the existing ones along with any eggs apparently. I imagine Brissy would have a similar setup.

best of luck!

[Wood Borer]

Another place to cross off my holiday list.:((

[cresta]

Hi Steve, thanks for the reply. The affected items aren't new, both were purchased from different sources about four years ago. In the case of the coffee table the little piles of sawdust have only just started appearing. I like you idea of placing in a bag and fumigating. I have a heavy plastic bag that a mattress came in, so I'll give it a go. Many thanks

Sorry about the holiday arrangements Wood Borer

Cresta

[seriph1]

Sorry - didnt mean new-new .... just didnt mean antique i.e. 90-150yrs old. Hope it works .... maybe a bug-bomb would be a better bet ... it is what I wanted to use when I did mine, but the shop had no stock.

[cresta]

Hi Steve, thanks for the reply. I've included some photos to see if anybody can id the little critters.

Cresta

[BUNTA]

the chemical they use in the shipping containers is Methel Bromide & can penetrate a foot of wood & will nock dead just about anything.
another member on this site once mentioned painting both sides with turps !!
you could try that but you might have to be careful of the finish.

[Sebastiaan56]

the chemical they use in the shipping containers is Methel Bromide & can penetrate a foot of wood & will nock dead just about anything.
another member on this site once mentioned painting both sides with turps !!
you could try that but you might have to be careful of the finish.

Methyl Bromide is only to be used by licensed operators, it is mega toxic. It is also an Ozone depletor and is supposed to be phased out real soon. Most contractors work out of the docks although it is still used for silos etc. The bomb in a bag idea is much safer although the Mythbusters had fun with insecticide bombs in enclosed spaces.

Sebastiaan

[seriph1]

yup - that's borer alright! I can't recall precisely but I "believe" they appear when migrating/leaving the timber....so haste means less waste in this instance I imagine.... I'd be getting those pieces out of the house ASAFP as well .... the material really looks like Mahogany to me.

BTW Painting Turps on my old pieces had no effect.