Bora, Bora, Bora.

This morning I had to pull some cladding of the back of the house to get to some pipes and noticed that I have some active wood borers going about their business in a couple of pine studs.

The type that leave small holes and plenty of very fine powder. I don't know what theyre called ... I think it may be coffin borer?? or some such thing.

The damage isn't bad enough to warrant replacing the stud especially seen as its the bathroom - villaboard, tiles - ouch!

soooo... how is the best way to deal with the little pesky blighters or is it time to call in the Flickman.....Remember one flick and there gone..... Gee that phrase brings back memories:) or is it a simple job of tying a hankey over the face and splashing liberal doses of some carcinogenic toxin around.*



* for those that don't know me .. I was joking - I'm quite responsible and fully conversant with the safe use and handling of chemicals ....and I also like to wear full-body rubber suits:;

Borax kills the bugs, available from the supermarket in the cooking section I think.

Al :)

Sounds like powder post borer, AKA lyctus beetle. By law in Qld (or is it all of Australia?) you can't sell timber that's not lyctus beetle resistant unless it's treated to make it resistant. Won't help ypu now though :roll: . A borax solution will treat them, but a can of baygon surface treatment is easier and a sure bet.

Mick

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This morning I had to pull some cladding of the back of the house to get to some pipes and noticed that I have some active wood borers going about their business in a couple of pine studs.

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How do you know they are active?

actually, there is no real treatment for borers except for pre treatments, but there are some available.
you could try a wood preserver if you want to try something for peace of mind and paint the whole wall and not miss abit.:C

and fly spray wont help .


to cut a long story short, borers inject their eggs into the pores of the wood and what you are seeing is called frass.
So you are seeing what happens after they have done the damage.
so what you are looking at could be years old.


on the good side:U powderpost beetles only eat the sapwood part of the timber.
so the wood can be left untreated when the strength of the timber is not significantly affected

make sure what you are looking at is indeed powderpost, because we do have the introduced European borer doing heaps of damage to pine in WA

Thanks guys,

Bugsy I was assuming it was active by the colour and freshness of the frass - but we all know about making assumtions.:B


Anyway I'll give the borax a go and maybe some methyl bromide....just kidding. I think I have a can of pine endseal CCA somewhere that should help with the repeat offending.

The worry is that this is just one small corner of the house..whats happening with all the other studs:C

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Bugsy I was assuming it was active by the colour and freshness of the frass - but we all know about making assumtions.:B

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i though you may have seen the wood before and it was ok.
sometimes the wood will look ok till you break it open as well. All you will see is small holes

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The worry is that this is just one small corner of the house..whats happening with all the other studs

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Structurally , you shouldnt have too much problems.
But we all know its easy to give advice over the net, so please get someone to have alook if you are really worried.
If you want to do something about them you will need something that penetrates into the wood. Otherwise your spray will just dry up on the wood and break down after a period of time.
Keep your borax for the black ants this summer:;

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Originally Posted by Bleedin Thumb

This morning I had to pull some cladding of the back of the house to get to some pipes and noticed that I have some active wood borers going about their business in a couple of pine studs.

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the only way to be really sure is to demolish the house, have the rubble carted away to another state, and rebuild using 4mm steel structure.

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and I also like to wear full-body rubber suits

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kinky, but hey, your life to do what you want with it :)