French Polishing and Bespoke Furniture
How to Kill Wood Borers Use an insecticide. Seek out an unrestricted disodium octaborate tetrahydrate insecticide if possible – many other types of insecticides can only be used by licensed professionals. Use a freezer. Call a professional for pest control . Treat infested furniture with heat. Eliminate wood that is infested by wood – borers .
If you suspect your wood is infested with woodworms or wood-boring beetles , treating the wood with a borate treatment is the most effective way to kill the active pests. Remove finishes from wood that has been painted or sealed before treating. Chose a product that is borate-based for your wood treatment.
Surface Treatments- Active infestations present in bare, exposed wood should be treated with a pesticide containing “borate”, such as BoraCare or Timbor. Borate-containing products will pentrate and get rid of Powderpost beetles inside the wood as well as those entering or exiting the surface of the wood.
‘ Simply sand the unfinished wood with sandpaper and collect the sawdust in a cup. You can then stir in wood glue with a tongue depressor until it reaches a paste consistency. Insert the mixture into the holes and immediately wipe away any excess with a damp cloth.
Treatment of any bare wood can be done with solvent based insecticidal borer fluid. Solvent based insecticides can be used with turpentine oil or kerosene as it will penetrate deep into the timber and will kill tunnel making larvae as they eat the wood .
soak it in a bleach and water solution – 1/2 cup bleach to 1 gallon water. Allow your piece to soak for 24 hours. This will not only kill bugs but any bacteria in it too. Once that is finished you need to soak iflt for another 1-2 days in water.
Get Rid of Grubs: In the grub stage of late spring and fall ( beetles have two life cycles per season), spray the lawn with 2 tablespoons of liquid dishwashing soap diluted in 1 gallon of water per 1,000 square feet. The grubs will surface and the birds will love you. Spray once each week until no more grubs surface.
Carpet beetles can get in your bed as they might get attracted by animal-based products of your bed and eat the fabrics. But unlike bed bugs, they don’t live in your mattress. It’s not the adult carpet beetles , but the larvae that devour the bed linen and furnishings in our bedrooms.
And here’s what you can do to protect wooden furniture ; Protect from moisture. Use Aloe Vera. Olive oil and white vinegar. Wood polishes. Inspect. Cardboard trap. Put the furniture under sun. Oil treatment.
Simply put borates or borax are naturally-occurring water-soluable salt-like acids. They are about as toxic as table salt to humans and pets but kill wood -consuming insects like termites, powder-post beetles, and old house borers. More importantly, it kills the wood destroying microorganisms that cause rot.
High heat (120-140° F. or 49-60° C.) for 6 hours kills all stages of powderpost beetles . for 72 hours will also kill powderpost beetles . The time needed for temperature treatments varies depending on the thickness of the infested item, and the treatment requires close monitoring to make sure items are not damaged.
Lyctid powderpost beetles are small (1/16-1/4 inch), narrow and elongated, reddish-brown to black beetles (Figure 2). Their emergence holes are round and about the size of a pinhead. The powdery dust feels like flour or fine talc, and often accumulates in small piles beneath or beside emergence holes.
Signs of wood borer Fresh exit holes in timber – round or oval shaped with sharp edges, the holes will appear clean and fresh. Tunnels in the wood – also known as ‘galleries’ which are often hard to see. Bore dust – (also known as frass) caused by emerging adult beetles, usually visible below the infested timber.
Wood boring beetles are attracted to the moisture content in the wood , try to keep furniture, door and wooden items dry. Seal cracks and crevices on wood surfaces to deter wood borer from breeding. Remove infected wood to avoid the infestation from spreading to another area.
This might sound obvious but we would strongly advise that you remove all furniture pieces and non-structural timbers that are woodworm infested or that you suspect might have a woodworm issue. This is simply to help minimise or prevent any further woodworm issues within the property.