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  1. 14th November 2009, 01:06 PM #1
    plunger
    plunger is offline Member
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    Default wood borer (active) in my marri floor!!!

    I've just found a board in my Marri solid floor (stuck to concrete) which has wood borers. Small holes with dust mounds on surface... I even caught a live one when it poked its head out. At the moment it only seems to be in one board which is only 900mm long and only the lighter part of the board is infested...I suppose the sapwood. The floor has been down about 4 years.

    I've done some reading and apparently any larvae should be killed in the kiln drying process but they could be infested afterwards. I've also read that the adults hatch and bore out to the surface after a period of years.

    I'll call a pest controller on monday but what I am more concerned about is the affected board is on the end of a run and the other part will probably be laid somewhere else. Also I wonder how much of the other timber is affected.

    How far do they travel in the wood or do they stay in one area? If the holes are injected with some sort of chemical will that be the end of my problem if they are just in that board? How can you check for others...do you just wait for holes to appear? Can they travel from or to other timber?...I have a paulownia deck with pine joists next to the affected board but it is separated from the floor by brickwork.

    Please help I'm freaking out that my 70m2 of floor will turn into holes.

    Garry
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  3. 14th November 2009, 01:32 PM #2
    whitewood
    whitewood is offline SENIOR MEMBER
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    Default Borers in Paulownia

    Gary,

    Paulownia has a reputation of being termite resistant. There was an independant university conducted test that showed that termites will attack other timber first even though paulownia is nearby.
    I feel that the question of borers is different. Paulownia logs that I have had in stacks in a paddock for 3 years waiting to be milled have been subjected to attack by borers. This has been mostly in the sap wood but there has been some evidence of them affecting the 'good' wood. The milled timber racked in my shed has not shown any evidence of borers.
    I'd get the pest people out as planned to both timbers.

    John
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  4. 14th November 2009, 02:35 PM #3
    plunger
    plunger is offline Member
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    Default

    Also what do the borers do when they come out of the hole? do they fly off or just crawl back in to the hole or find another bit of wood to eat?

    Garry
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  5. 23rd November 2009, 07:41 PM #4
    scooner
    scooner is offline greeny
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    Wink

    hi , i had some woodborers in a couple of gum trees,
    the fix was diluted bleach in a spray bottle squirted in at the top most hole and let it run down into the holes they dont like that ,
    saved both trees and they are still growing very well , only problem would be would the bleach discolour your floor ???
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  6. 24th November 2009, 02:57 PM #5
    plunger
    plunger is offline Member
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    Default

    I got a pest controller out and he said it wasn't really a problem. Apparently the larvae hatch into adults and they are coming out and because there is no green wood around they don't pose a problem. He said just to spray with a surface spray which I have done and killed a number of the borers. He seems to think that it was just that bit of sapwood.

    I wasn't completely convinced so got a second opinion and they said the same thing.

    Anyway after a week there has not been any more activity, but I still wander around every few days just in case they pop up elsewhere.

    Garry
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  7. 24th November 2009, 04:48 PM #6
    Wongdai
    Wongdai is offline SENIOR MEMBER
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    Default

    Scarey stuff. All the floorboards in my house are Marri.

    My FiL never tires of telling me that it is "crap timber"
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  8. 26th November 2009, 01:16 PM #7
    nifty
    nifty is offline SENIOR MEMBER
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Wongdai View Post
    Scarey stuff. All the floorboards in my house are Marri.

    My FiL never tires of telling me that it is "crap timber"
    No it isnt, its great stuff. What other timber can come in so many different colours and characters. The thing to look for when cutting it and even laying it as a floor is that marri is prone to borer invasion in the sapwood. Ive seen them crawl out of timber even after kiln drying. Lyctus borer is the main offender.
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