Live in an 1860’s farmhouse in Massachusetts. Several areas (attic rafters and flooring, Kitchen flooring and joists) show evidence of apowder post beetles. Problem was diagnosed prior to purchase ten years ago, and house was “treated” but turns out nothing was done. Have removed much of the worst wood; however, my wife would like something of the house left standing. Does anyone know of a safe (have a two and a four year old) and effective way to treat suspect wood in place?
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Try PRGinc.com (I think) , Preservation Resource Group. They sell borax based products that are non-toxic. Dont know if it kills the bugs but they say the bugs will not "eat" the wood thats been treated. Lots of information on thew web site.
The Tim-Bor and other borate products they sell are what you want. You can spend hours reading the reference links they provide to see why.Excellence is its own reward!
Tim-Bor is what is used here for active.T. Jeffery Clarke
Quidvis Recte Factum Quamvis Humile Praeclarum
tim-bore... & bora-care are gud stuff.. but first determine if the infestation is still ongoing...
draw a circle around a suspect area and count the exit holes.. come back in a week or two and recount.. if there are more holes... then the critters are still hatching inside and eating their way out to continue the cycle...
one of the problems with powder post beetles is the larvae is in the wood fiber and beyond the reach of most surface treatments...Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
house was "treated" but turns out nothing was done -
please explain - what was supposedly done/not done? - treatment will not remove evidence of past infestation, are you now finding fresh piles of dust and 1/8" round gray/brown beetles crawling around?
traditional treatments have relyed on persistant insecticides (DDT, Chlordane) which are no longer labeled/availible for such use - whole house treatments with fumigants are availible if infestations warrent, but will disrupt your livestyle for a while, and are expensive - - Metcalf and Flint suggest spraying the wood 'thoroughly' with lime-sulfur at a rate of 2-3 gals lime-sulfur per 100 gal solution - I think this would qualify as 'organic' control ('organic' does not equal 'safe', a common misconception) - liquid lime-sulfur should be availible at purveyers of fruit and vegetable chemicals - if you have a local orchard, ask where they purchase chemicals - Metcalf and Flint also list Borax at 10 pounds to 100 gallons of water containing 4 oz of sodium lauryl sulfate (Borax is common, not sure about the SLS, I'll check another reference and post again) - varnish applied to wood will prevent egg laying, and thus break the cycle, but will not destroy any insects present -
it's unusual to have attics infested, usually too hot and dry, are you sure of your pest?
Thank you all for the advice and product suggestions. To answer David's questions regarding treatment: house was supposed to be treated according to the purchase and sales agreement, but it didn't happen; affected areas in the attic are primarily in the soffits. The rafters are cantilevered, supported by joists extending 12" past the top plate into the soffits; this was probably my most interesting find. Most discouraging one: the leak around the toilet in the upstairs bath: turns out the toilet was tilting due to the weight of the old time cast iron tub resting on the floorboards with two of the three supporting joists (2 x 6, 24" o.c.) completely cut through and the third notched more than half it's width to fit the waste lines. I think we were pushing one of those rare "catastrophic failures"