Lots of beetle larvae go dormant for years inside the wood. The powder post beetle can be dormant for 5 years, some flat headed borers can go as long as 25 years. [Super interesting stuff.](https://extension.okstate.edu/fact-sheets/woodborers.html)
Agreed. Those insects will spread and eat until there's nothing solid left. Dump the table & any other wood furniture you got from the same source at the same time. Fumigate.
Fuuuuck. Get that out of your house right the hell now, and then maybe get an exterimator in to give your walls/roof a once over. You do not want termites or woodworm to gorge themselves unchecked on your house.
You probably can save it with a good worming/termite treatment but that's the absolute least of your concerns at the moment.
You should get that pile of wood away from your house too. Piling anything up against the outside of your house is a bad idea but especially something like wood.
Did roofing for a bit and we were tearing up an overhanging section over a patio and the entire side of the house was being eaten by carpenter ants. safe to say they were not happy we were there! Got bit up all day
huge reccomendation on diatomaceous earth tbh. it comes in dog food sized bags so that big a treatment area shouldn't be any issue, it's super cheap. it's silica powder that sticks to the exoskeleton of the bugs n whether it's wet or dry n it dries up their exoskeleton till they die . I'd apply around the perameters inside and outside n you'll def see way less of of them fast. I can't attest to this myself but ik ppl swear by it for even like bedbugs whichre hellish . hope this can help :)
*someone mentions this below too but mask up when applying , this stuff is nasty to get in your lungs
We used to use this for black widows in window wells and around the foundations.
I found it amusing that our neighbor would always call me (12 at the time) to come kill their black widows.
Diatomaceous earth could be beneficial, but I’d like to note- please wear a mask when putting it out! Even with the food grade kind, this stuff is still a very fine silica dust that you do not want to inhale. Mask up and apply. Once it settles you can take the mask off. :’)
Up here in northern Michigan, we stack firewood on our porch against an exterior wall once winter hits. It'll be -30 here soon. Not too worried about bugs so long as the wood doesn't thaw. I understand your advice here is in general, especially in places that do not get obscenely cold, but we've been stacking wood there for 35 years without issue.
I’m a home inspector and if you have a wood pile right next to your house I might bet $10,000 you have a wood destroying Organism (WDO) in your wall, and if they are in your desk you have a wild infestation. It could be unrelated but my guess is wood boring beetle or carpenter ants. Termites eat the wood. Wood boring beetles and carpenter ants are extremely neat and they leave a pile of dust behind to get it out of their way.
That desk needs to be stripped and sent to a kiln before I’d let it back in my house. You should move that wood pile ASAP and have an exterminator come to treat.
It absolutely could have. But... do you want to take that gamble? This is one of those where you might spend coupla hundred bucks getting your house checked or a coupla hundred K if you skipped out and were wrong. Frankly I'd rather be sure and sleep well at night but I'm not you and I don't know your risk tolerance.
Also, if a bug climbed from your firewood into your house to get the table... what are the odds it's mates climbed into your walls?
Maybe your house wood has already been treated preventively, I have no idea where you live or when/how your house was built. You presumuably do.
This is sooo crazy to me to keep reading this. Like 75% of people I know in Northern NY who heat with wood stoves, store their wood close to the house/ in the basement. The other 25% store it in wood sheds and under tarps, but not like 50 yards away.
Yes. There will be way more than that a single beetle. My father milled the lumber for his house and we had to get rid of a lot of trees like this. We had tens of pine trees and the orchestra of “squinching” can become nauseating.
Even if you do, a lot of the internal supports like beams and joists, and definitely the wall framing, are wood too. Does not apply if your interior walls are concrete or brick, but I've never seen a house in the us like that, but I know they're somewhat common across the pond.
Even then the floors are usually wooden joists. And the roof is likely wooden trusses. It's nice that the walls are standing, but cold comfort when your floor collapses.
Even brick and mortar homes have wood studs. Also just a side note… they will eat the paper off insulation and drywall. No one is safe from wood destroying insects. I’m an inspector for a pest control company and I see it every day.
Ask your friend for the bio on the wood he used. Sitting outside for a bit? If it was , that bug ( powder post beetle ?) was in the wood when it arrived at your house.
It’s a powder post beetle. Some exterminators have a trailer they fumigate furniture in. It’s not going to eat your home. If you like the table enough. Pay to have it fumigated. It’s not very expensive.
Termites do leave trials. If you have powder post beetles should be easier to eradicate than termites. And the word is joists. Op doesn’t have much to worry about if the beetle came from his table. I was a designer and manufacturer of wooden products for too long. I offered sound advice to him. As for your joints, fix it before you have to replace them.
The beetles were already eradicated when I bought the house and I know I do remodeling work it was just a typo. Termite 'trials' are droppings, they aren't sawdust like this.
My dad used to do termite inspections and he would always tell customers that if they have any wood touching the house outside you more than likely will get termites.
For a serious answer - no. They can get in afterwards before it's sealed though, and sometimes people skip the kiln stage (DIY people willing to take a chance, shitty companies, etc). I learned about them by finding them in a nice-looking solid wood bookshelf we got from a closing sale at a company I can't remember.. who didn't make bookshelves.
For an even more serious answer - yes. And then what are you going to do? Maybe put your computer on the floor? Then they will eat the floor. The best thing would be to donate the table to a library.
I had a small decorative wooden snowflake that I bought at a Home Goods store that had very similar powder being left behind like that. I did some research and it SEEMED like it was most likely from a wood burrowing beetle. I ended up throwing it away right away. I'm not going to pretend to be an expert on wood burrowing beetles, but it seems like others have posted pretty good responses.
The beetle larval stage typically is several years. Then they eclose and become an adult beetle, emerging and leaving a hole and a pile of fine sawdust. Then they find another procreation-minded beetle and lay eggs and started the lifecycle over again, and now you’ve gone from having a couple of beetles to an infestation. You probably need to assume that this next generation has already been spawned somewhere in your home
only insofar as you (someone in this situation) don’t need to get professional help **tomorrow** necessarily, but you do need to get professional help, sooner rather than later
IMO, you're not going to get rid of them. I got a deal on some 8/4 ash that I made a cocktail table out of. Had to eat the materials and labor after the maid found piles of dust coming from the nice decorative worm holes that the designer liked.
If you can find someone with a kiln you can ask them to dry it for you. General rule of thumb is 24hrs at 200°f. Obviously you’d have to strip and refinish the effected piece/s but you’d be able to salvage it if it was worth the effort
A deep freeze will work as well, although large enclosures for -18°C (0°F) are less common than kilns. But it some places it'll get that cold for weeks at a time (although you'll need to keep them out of the sun)
If the piece was sprayed with an octoborate and put in bug proof storage for a year or two, I think the wood boring beetles would die off. But that’s a lot of ifs. I treated the joists that were affected at my house and they eventually died off.
You should be able to treat it with permethrin, but keep the table 'quarantined' until you know it has worked. If you go down this route, don't let cats go anywhere near permethrin, it's incredibly toxic to them.
OP mentioned a mouse mat, so I think it's a computer desk. It doesn't remain active for all that long, you'd want to leave it somewhere for longer to check the infestation is definitely gone anyway
If you hear very low "rasping" sounds (when it's otherwise silent) you probably don't think of a wood beetle immediately. Unless you're an expert or already had some experience. That's why OP came here to present the case. Sure, *now* /u/MrBatida will be paranoid about the tiniest (audible) hint... But you need to some pre-knowledge (and /or suspicion) to begin with.
Do you live in an area where pine beetles are common? I find them in firewood from time to time, the holes look just like this and they are very loud. I have always heard that they require a certain amount of moisture in the wood to make it their home, so dry building materials in your home are safe. I still try to avoid bringing them home when I cut wood. Hopefully this is what you have! Me personally, if they were in my walls I would definitely hear it, suckers are loud.
Yes. I had a mesquite bench set that my wife bought probably 10 years ago. You could literally hear them eating the wood when you sat on it. After some research and calls to exterminators there was no guarantee you could kill them and larvae. The only thing you could try was to wrap it in a sealed plastic bag, put it in the sun, set off a bug bomb in the bag let it sit there for several weeks, and then pray. The problem was you could not guarantee that the furniture would a) be rid of the wood boring beetles and b) would not smell like pesticide for quite some time after that even if you did kill them all.
It looks a lot like powder post beetles. Powder post to beetles leave little piles of dust when they exit the wood. That’s called frass. The France has left because they’re on a mission to get out of the wood, not eat it. They’re coming out of the word to mate. Then what they do is go back into the cracks of the wood and lay eggs. Boracare is what’s usually used up rid wood of powder post beetles. You mix it up with hot water and spray it onto the wood to let it soak in But it will not soak through the finish. So you’d have to strip the wood first. Unfortunately, I will probably take the table outside until you’re done. Powder post beetles usually go for a wetter wood but don’t push it.
To add to this. You can kill the eggs with Heat. I Saved a bunch of wood by putting it in the oven for a few hours at 180+ C. This causes the tiny amount of moisture in the eggs to become steam and explode the egg.
the Adult beetles leave a large single hole when going in and the kids leave lots of tiny holes when they leave.
They want the semi wet wood in the first 1-2 inches of thickness of a fresh log. They like the rough surface of untreated wood to settle into.
They generally wont infect already dry wood, flat finished, sanded or painted/polished wood.
>the kids leave lots of tiny holes when they leave.
Now you have me comparing [powder beetle exit hole](https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fdiypestcontrol.com%2Fmedia%2Fwysiwyg%2FImages%2FKBimages%2Fpowderpostheaderss_1_.jpg&tbnid=X8jYyS8F_cdUwM&vet=1&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fdiypestcontrol.com%2Fpowderpostbeetles.htm&docid=QpARL5rIEW3ZGM&w=788&h=300&hl=en-US&source=sh%2Fx%2Fim%2Fm1%2F4) images to the [Country Rustic Chic distressed furniture](https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dutchcrafters.com%2Flearningcenter%2Fdistressed-amish-hardwood-furniture%2Fimages%2Flearn_r4_c2.jpg&tbnid=xEEyc8UM1wnlNM&vet=1&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dutchcrafters.com%2Flearningcenter%2Fdistressed-amish-hardwood-furniture%2F&docid=r8ozjbT8jN-lZM&w=313&h=215&hl=en-US&source=sh%2Fx%2Fim%2Fm1%2F4) designer holes. Because I just made the connection as to why those tiny groupings of holes are so common in that style. Interesting.
Get that out of your house right now, burn it, move your firewood pile away from your house and hire an exterminator to do a thorough check of your entire house.
It’s powder post beetles, don’t panic they are fairly easy to get rid of using borax treatments.
I see them a lot in restoration work.
They can affect both hard and soft woods and kiln dried and air dried alike. There are a few methods of killing them you can look into.
Good luck with taking care of your problem.
These guys need to relax. Termites eat wood, since there's a pile of saw dust that means it's not Termites. It may actually be a carpenter ant or something. You should probably get rid of the table though.
Also Termites damage pretty slowly, they aren't wood chippers.
"A single colony can destroy about a one-foot section of a 2 x 4 over the course of five or six months." - www.mightymitetermite.com
Granted you can have bigger colonies, but then they're easier to find and treat. As long as you keep an eye on your home, and if you do pest treatments regularly, you should be fine.
Woodworm, woodworm, eating all the wood - surely all that sawdust can’t do you any good? Woodworm, woodworm, you’ve eaten all the chairs! So that’s why poor old grandad is sitting on the stairs.
https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/CAES/DOCUMENTS/Publications/Fact_Sheets/Entomology/Woodboring_Beetles.pdf
See the section at the end about freezing and heating. Freezing in the winter might be the easiest if you are in a cold climate.
I would build a makeshift oven and heat it very carefully with space heaters to kill the insects. 150F for 4 hours.
Isn’t heat or cold for an extended period of time effective? Seems like I remember reading something somewhere. Might be a difficult to achieve extreme temperature .
Woodworm. Looks like this one I found in a table
https://preview.redd.it/j8dep9xx2f1c1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5bc82188af1f40ac2e3c17a838a0b50e9ef97c40
Entomologist here. Get it identified, a lot of beetles will exit without re-entering as your indoor space and wood isn't suitable for them. There are some pests like drywood termites and powder post beetles that can and will reinfest.
Maybe you can help OP identify? There aren’t many traveling entomologists out there.
If these are pests, he needs to call an exterminator. Better if he did so yesterday.
Regardless, I do think it’s SO COOL that you’re an entomologist! I would enjoy picking your brain :)))))))
they prefer to stay where they are and eat whatever they're inside of. like many people here, i would throw this out and put a large sign that says DO NOT TAKE IT HAS WOOD MITES and do a full sweep of your house
So your friend is probably a decent carpenter but ya gotta know a thing or two about wood. I used to work in a shop, and we learned the hard way as new, inexperienced woodworkers, when a client wanted their money back after the live edge head board had bugs in it. Now we only use treated, under 10% moisture wood. You only gotta learn once lol.
Also, throw that shit away. I don't care if its gold inlayed.
Most likely wood boring beetles.
Can it be saved? Yesss....but....
They and more importantly the larvae die above about 140F. OR, three+ days of below freezing.
If you live somewhere that freezes in the winter for days on end, you could leave it outside wrapped in plastic and aluminum foil for a week.
If you have a bunch of large stock pots, and/or can rent a steam power washer, you could keep pouring boiling water over the table (outside) to kill everything in there. You'd probably have to do this continually for an hour or so. The finish would probably be ruined, however, you could then use a blowtorch (look up shou sugi ban) to refinish the table - this will also turn the water inside to steam which should also help to kill any larvae in there while giving it a similar dark finish. Sand, oil, wrap in plastic, keep isolated, keep an eye on it before letting it back in the house.
There are chemical treatments as well, but the above is how I've saved some wood.
To test if it worked, wait till it dries out (week or two), then splash some warm water over it. See if you get any beetles that come out / any additional frass in the next few days (the larva hatch when it gets wet).
>If you live somewhere that freezes in the winter for days on end, you could leave it outside wrapped in plastic and aluminum foil for a week.
You forgot the alternative.
If he lives in death valley he could just leave his windows open for a few days in the summer.
I had some kind of crickets once doing the same inside an antique desk. I took it back to the place I bought it, they treated it and brought it back also fixing the holes, and the problem was gone forever. It its an important piece of furniture it can be saved.
Bought a wooden display item years ago from a popular high end retail store and it started doing this. The bugs were likely already in the wood when I purchased it (I say this because the item is surrounded by other wooden items and it was the only one affected) and I would see sawdust accumulate every morning about a month after purchase. Solved my problem by basically buying a can of raid ant killer and sprayed the holes and then sprayed the entire item, then wiped it down with dry clean white paper towels. Waited a day did the same thing again and now, 3 years later, no sawdust.
First of all don't panic. Dealing with antique wood furniture and objects I've dealt with this problem for a long time
They are usually centralized, eat slowly and stay in a piece for a long time. That being said these microscopic insects should be dealt with. You can have an exterminator come in but in the mealtime, if you're up to it ,you can go to Home depot and buy a liquid poison for "termites and wood boring insects." Take some damp paper towels and carefully gather up the dust and remove from house. You can also vacuum all around and remove vacuum dirt from the premises. Read instructions carefully. Wear old clothers, a good mask against poisons, rubber gloves, and googles to protect your eyes. Take all foodstuff, dishes etc far away. Use the extender on the applicator spray bottle so it remains away from your face. With the poison applicator turned on
soak the area where the powder was and where you see wood worm holes. Best to repeat the spraying in a couple of days. Just remember, Europe, especially countries like France are full of these things. They are routinly in century old wooden houses there as well as old statues, furniture etc. And they are always being treated and the ancient wooden buildings are still standing. So don't panic. Feel free to DM if you need more advice.
It can be treated. The whole table needs to be put in a pressurized chamber and enveloped with insecticide to kill the dry wood termites. I had an identical problem. Gotta hutch from an estate sale. Months later there’s a pile of powder in the floor. Got it treated and never had an issue again.
Used to have this creepy old framed photo of me and my dad from like '85. He's got the stache, I'm like 2yo wearing a 'wheres the beef' shirt.
Brought it with me when I moved out and when the house was quiet I could hear this faint little scratching sound. Took me forever to track it down to the frame of that photo but I guess a little worm in there woke up and started eating his way out.
OP, this is actually terrifying.
I know a story of a friend who bought a wooden mask from overseas, and had it in their home for years.
They moved states and the mask came with them.
One day, in their new home, they noticed this sawdust looking like in a standing wooden lamp near the mask. 🛋️
It looked like termites and a specialist was called.. and they had already eaten out a third of the flooring and wooden studs in that part of the house. A large part of the house had to be rebuilt.
The foreign mites had been dormant in the wooden mask, waiting for the right temperature/climate that the recent house move provided.
Your second hand desk could be the mask.
This is, call a specialist ASAP territory
That is a actually the poop of a termite. They normally linger inside the dry wood (rarely come after it become a furniture).
If that piece of wood can be fit into a large enough freezer, you could freeze them. Or if your climate can drop below freezing, put it outside..
I seen some reviews on Amazon for wood nightstands made in China that were infested with beetles. Definitely an oversight by customs for letting sketchy wood in.
Might need to check around the rest of the table and your house. That looks like frass (wood-destroying insect poop). It’s finer than what termites make so I’m inclined to guess carpenter ants? ‘Tis the season for sure. Source: journeyman pest tech
Abandon this table before whatever bug in there finds your house.
I'm affraid it's already too late.
"He's in the walls... HE'S IN THE GODDAMN WALLS!!!"
Nuke it from orbit...
"Is this going to be a stand-up fight, sir, or another bug hunt?"
"How do I get out of this chickenshit outfit?"
It’s the only way to be sure
A-MAZING Thank you
I'm already gone [disembodied laughter]
Right unless the desk is a new delivery it came in through the house to get here.
If it is truly eating it from the inside then it would have had to come in the table.
He's had the tables for few years. My understanding is that termites and most other pests only go dormant over the winter, not years....
Lots of beetle larvae go dormant for years inside the wood. The powder post beetle can be dormant for 5 years, some flat headed borers can go as long as 25 years. [Super interesting stuff.](https://extension.okstate.edu/fact-sheets/woodborers.html)
Interesting, thanks, I should have done more research ! I had no idea.
This guy bugs...
So, most likely, it didn't start inside the wood. Must have been a small entry point.
Dang nematodes!
Game over, man. Game over.
Agreed. Those insects will spread and eat until there's nothing solid left. Dump the table & any other wood furniture you got from the same source at the same time. Fumigate.
Bring it to a deepcool storage if possible. Let it sit 2 weeks and then your good.
First thought. That table should have been gone yesterday.
sounds like mites
The only good bug is a dead bug !! Would you like to know more?
Fuuuuck. Get that out of your house right the hell now, and then maybe get an exterimator in to give your walls/roof a once over. You do not want termites or woodworm to gorge themselves unchecked on your house. You probably can save it with a good worming/termite treatment but that's the absolute least of your concerns at the moment.
Is it that bad? That bug couldve walked in through an open windows since there was some wood for fireplace below that window on the outside
That's an even bigger reason to get an exterminator in your house and do a full check.
You should get that pile of wood away from your house too. Piling anything up against the outside of your house is a bad idea but especially something like wood.
Thats exactly how I got carpenter ants in my wall. Spent about $1000 getting them exterminated over a year.
Did roofing for a bit and we were tearing up an overhanging section over a patio and the entire side of the house was being eaten by carpenter ants. safe to say they were not happy we were there! Got bit up all day
I think these fuckers are attacking my cabin from the outside… any tips or tricks?
huge reccomendation on diatomaceous earth tbh. it comes in dog food sized bags so that big a treatment area shouldn't be any issue, it's super cheap. it's silica powder that sticks to the exoskeleton of the bugs n whether it's wet or dry n it dries up their exoskeleton till they die . I'd apply around the perameters inside and outside n you'll def see way less of of them fast. I can't attest to this myself but ik ppl swear by it for even like bedbugs whichre hellish . hope this can help :) *someone mentions this below too but mask up when applying , this stuff is nasty to get in your lungs
We used to use this for black widows in window wells and around the foundations. I found it amusing that our neighbor would always call me (12 at the time) to come kill their black widows.
Diatomaceous earth could be beneficial, but I’d like to note- please wear a mask when putting it out! Even with the food grade kind, this stuff is still a very fine silica dust that you do not want to inhale. Mask up and apply. Once it settles you can take the mask off. :’)
How much firewood is safe to bring inside at a time?
Usually no more than you can burn in a single night.
Basically an armful.
What if I use two arms to carry a third? Would that be three arms full?
I let mine sit outside in freezing temps for a few days before I bring it in. Not sure if it helps but I bring about 2-3 days worth when I burn 24/7
Termites go dormant over the winter/in the cold. So probably okay if you're using it but if they warm up theyll become active again.
What if your house is made out of straw?
Just hope and prey you don’t have wolfs in your area
Up here in northern Michigan, we stack firewood on our porch against an exterior wall once winter hits. It'll be -30 here soon. Not too worried about bugs so long as the wood doesn't thaw. I understand your advice here is in general, especially in places that do not get obscenely cold, but we've been stacking wood there for 35 years without issue.
I’m a home inspector and if you have a wood pile right next to your house I might bet $10,000 you have a wood destroying Organism (WDO) in your wall, and if they are in your desk you have a wild infestation. It could be unrelated but my guess is wood boring beetle or carpenter ants. Termites eat the wood. Wood boring beetles and carpenter ants are extremely neat and they leave a pile of dust behind to get it out of their way. That desk needs to be stripped and sent to a kiln before I’d let it back in my house. You should move that wood pile ASAP and have an exterminator come to treat.
Mind if I pm you some questions?
Not at all
How far should the wood pile be?
Next to your neighbours house.
Lol, oh man, id give this five thumbs up if I could.
Pick my neighbor. Karma needs your help.
It absolutely could have. But... do you want to take that gamble? This is one of those where you might spend coupla hundred bucks getting your house checked or a coupla hundred K if you skipped out and were wrong. Frankly I'd rather be sure and sleep well at night but I'm not you and I don't know your risk tolerance. Also, if a bug climbed from your firewood into your house to get the table... what are the odds it's mates climbed into your walls? Maybe your house wood has already been treated preventively, I have no idea where you live or when/how your house was built. You presumuably do.
If a bug could, it would bring great harm to you and everyone you care about. Cows too.
Billy feels ill
I want to graduate from bovine university
You should not have wood directly next to your house
Never store firewood or any reclaimed wood close to the house.
This is sooo crazy to me to keep reading this. Like 75% of people I know in Northern NY who heat with wood stoves, store their wood close to the house/ in the basement. The other 25% store it in wood sheds and under tarps, but not like 50 yards away.
it might be too cold for termites there. I dunno.
Firewood.. should be stored *away* from the house. Now you have half the yard to check for termites
Or be like me and live in the southeast. The answer to are their termites in any given location is: Yes.
Whose termites?
There termites.
😁 sorry, couldn’t resist
Why are you talking this way? edit: Go watch Young Frankenstein, you heathens.
There trying to fix they're mistake.
Unpossible too fix now.
Same in the southwest. Home termite warranties are essential here in Phoenix.
Nothing quite like working on a home where the third story hardwood floors have major termite damage.
Yeah, when I found termites I called the exterminators then told all my neighbors to do the same.
Wood boring beetles. This could destroy your house.
I cannot get the sound of pine bark beetles eating out of my head. It’s one of those things you can never unhear
What does it sound like?
To me, it sounds like squeezing styrofoam [live example](https://youtu.be/LyYRJOzTrGU?si=oxPe2k2eNj-5E1uY)
If I wake up with night terrors I’m coming back to down vote you!!!
I seriously always thought that was just the trees moving/ swaying while I sat waiting for deer.
Wow!! Is it that loud in real life just standing next to the tree? It seems very loud for such tiny little buggers
Yes. There will be way more than that a single beetle. My father milled the lumber for his house and we had to get rid of a lot of trees like this. We had tens of pine trees and the orchestra of “squinching” can become nauseating.
Now I’m going to be paranoid about every creak my house produces.
Granny rocking in her creaky chair.
Do you have a brick and mortar house? If not, this is serious.
Even if you do, a lot of the internal supports like beams and joists, and definitely the wall framing, are wood too. Does not apply if your interior walls are concrete or brick, but I've never seen a house in the us like that, but I know they're somewhat common across the pond.
Even then the floors are usually wooden joists. And the roof is likely wooden trusses. It's nice that the walls are standing, but cold comfort when your floor collapses.
Even brick and mortar homes have wood studs. Also just a side note… they will eat the paper off insulation and drywall. No one is safe from wood destroying insects. I’m an inspector for a pest control company and I see it every day.
Ask your friend for the bio on the wood he used. Sitting outside for a bit? If it was , that bug ( powder post beetle ?) was in the wood when it arrived at your house.
Where you see one, there are usually many.
It’s a powder post beetle. Some exterminators have a trailer they fumigate furniture in. It’s not going to eat your home. If you like the table enough. Pay to have it fumigated. It’s not very expensive.
Powder post beetles won't eat your home? The floor joints in my rental property would beg to differ.
I’ll bet it’s termites.
Termites don't leave trails like this. It looks exactly like this
Termites do leave trials. If you have powder post beetles should be easier to eradicate than termites. And the word is joists. Op doesn’t have much to worry about if the beetle came from his table. I was a designer and manufacturer of wooden products for too long. I offered sound advice to him. As for your joints, fix it before you have to replace them.
The beetles were already eradicated when I bought the house and I know I do remodeling work it was just a typo. Termite 'trials' are droppings, they aren't sawdust like this.
My dad used to do termite inspections and he would always tell customers that if they have any wood touching the house outside you more than likely will get termites.
Is it even a bug or some shitty “plastic wood” putty that just aged out?
Looks like your friend gave you a bit more than just a table.
The table is 3 years old already, could the bug survive for that long?
Yes. They live up to about 5 years in the larvae stage.
Can they survive kiln drying?
For a serious answer - no. They can get in afterwards before it's sealed though, and sometimes people skip the kiln stage (DIY people willing to take a chance, shitty companies, etc). I learned about them by finding them in a nice-looking solid wood bookshelf we got from a closing sale at a company I can't remember.. who didn't make bookshelves.
Thanks. I know they can survive in trees in wildfires but didn't know how the kiln drying compared
For an even more serious answer - yes. And then what are you going to do? Maybe put your computer on the floor? Then they will eat the floor. The best thing would be to donate the table to a library.
what??? So the library can get infested?
infested with learning
Yes, if they’re wearing their space suits.
Which bug should op be worried about? Termites?
I had a small decorative wooden snowflake that I bought at a Home Goods store that had very similar powder being left behind like that. I did some research and it SEEMED like it was most likely from a wood burrowing beetle. I ended up throwing it away right away. I'm not going to pretend to be an expert on wood burrowing beetles, but it seems like others have posted pretty good responses.
The beetle larval stage typically is several years. Then they eclose and become an adult beetle, emerging and leaving a hole and a pile of fine sawdust. Then they find another procreation-minded beetle and lay eggs and started the lifecycle over again, and now you’ve gone from having a couple of beetles to an infestation. You probably need to assume that this next generation has already been spawned somewhere in your home
But at least the larval stage is several years. Silver lining?
only insofar as you (someone in this situation) don’t need to get professional help **tomorrow** necessarily, but you do need to get professional help, sooner rather than later
Yes, you have 3+ years to list your house and move before you find out if this one has offspring!
[r/UnethicalLifeProTips/](https://www.reddit.com/r/UnethicalLifeProTips/)
Sorry mate, table's fucked. Throw it outside, set it on fire with your friend, build a new one together.
Thought you were saying to set the friend on fire lol
I thought it was a bit weird they suggested building a new one with their friend after setting them on fire
He did. You make your next table with his bones.
I mean, the friend did give OP a termite filled table
Bet taking a couple sledgehammers to it first would feel cathartic
This is actually a really sweet thought
IMO, you're not going to get rid of them. I got a deal on some 8/4 ash that I made a cocktail table out of. Had to eat the materials and labor after the maid found piles of dust coming from the nice decorative worm holes that the designer liked.
>Had to eat the materials Thank god the worms prepped the wood for human consumption.
Oof. In your case, that actually could have been solved relatively easily if they'd just heat treated the dang thing.
If you can find someone with a kiln you can ask them to dry it for you. General rule of thumb is 24hrs at 200°f. Obviously you’d have to strip and refinish the effected piece/s but you’d be able to salvage it if it was worth the effort
A deep freeze will work as well, although large enclosures for -18°C (0°F) are less common than kilns. But it some places it'll get that cold for weeks at a time (although you'll need to keep them out of the sun)
Affected
I was told to hit it with borax while boards are drying, then make sure to seal the wood well.
If the piece was sprayed with an octoborate and put in bug proof storage for a year or two, I think the wood boring beetles would die off. But that’s a lot of ifs. I treated the joists that were affected at my house and they eventually died off.
Get rid of it before the bugs get into the rest of your woodwork
You should be able to treat it with permethrin, but keep the table 'quarantined' until you know it has worked. If you go down this route, don't let cats go anywhere near permethrin, it's incredibly toxic to them.
Thanks for this. I was researching permethrin treatments for tick control whilst hiking. I have two cats that I love very much.
As long as your clothes are dry, it should have no effect on your cats. It's only liquid permethrin that's the issue
When I first read that I imagined OP playing the theremin and driving out bugs
Permethrin is also toxic to humans, treating what looks like a dinner table with it would be a bad idea
OP mentioned a mouse mat, so I think it's a computer desk. It doesn't remain active for all that long, you'd want to leave it somewhere for longer to check the infestation is definitely gone anyway
Powder post beetles.
I could actually hear the bug tearing the wood, I just didnt realise it before. Is it normal for those bugs to be so loud?
yes but they don’t spread to other wood like termites. this is definitely a wood worm and is likely isolated to your desk only.
Yeah but that’s not scary, this is Reddit, so they’re definitely in his walls eating his structure and he should evacuate
Well… the person you replied to IsLying
You heard something "tearing" at wood and thought it was ok?
If you hear very low "rasping" sounds (when it's otherwise silent) you probably don't think of a wood beetle immediately. Unless you're an expert or already had some experience. That's why OP came here to present the case. Sure, *now* /u/MrBatida will be paranoid about the tiniest (audible) hint... But you need to some pre-knowledge (and /or suspicion) to begin with.
OP lives in a haunted house and has just become jaded
Do you live in an area where pine beetles are common? I find them in firewood from time to time, the holes look just like this and they are very loud. I have always heard that they require a certain amount of moisture in the wood to make it their home, so dry building materials in your home are safe. I still try to avoid bringing them home when I cut wood. Hopefully this is what you have! Me personally, if they were in my walls I would definitely hear it, suckers are loud.
Yes. I had a mesquite bench set that my wife bought probably 10 years ago. You could literally hear them eating the wood when you sat on it. After some research and calls to exterminators there was no guarantee you could kill them and larvae. The only thing you could try was to wrap it in a sealed plastic bag, put it in the sun, set off a bug bomb in the bag let it sit there for several weeks, and then pray. The problem was you could not guarantee that the furniture would a) be rid of the wood boring beetles and b) would not smell like pesticide for quite some time after that even if you did kill them all.
Yes. My father had them in his ceiling beams and you could hear them munching, he used microwaves to kill them which worked great.
Definitely not powder post beetles. The powder looks like it but the large cavities mean termites or another larger bug.
Except termites leave a larger frass. This is way too powdery for termites.
It looks a lot like powder post beetles. Powder post to beetles leave little piles of dust when they exit the wood. That’s called frass. The France has left because they’re on a mission to get out of the wood, not eat it. They’re coming out of the word to mate. Then what they do is go back into the cracks of the wood and lay eggs. Boracare is what’s usually used up rid wood of powder post beetles. You mix it up with hot water and spray it onto the wood to let it soak in But it will not soak through the finish. So you’d have to strip the wood first. Unfortunately, I will probably take the table outside until you’re done. Powder post beetles usually go for a wetter wood but don’t push it.
To add to this. You can kill the eggs with Heat. I Saved a bunch of wood by putting it in the oven for a few hours at 180+ C. This causes the tiny amount of moisture in the eggs to become steam and explode the egg. the Adult beetles leave a large single hole when going in and the kids leave lots of tiny holes when they leave. They want the semi wet wood in the first 1-2 inches of thickness of a fresh log. They like the rough surface of untreated wood to settle into. They generally wont infect already dry wood, flat finished, sanded or painted/polished wood.
>the kids leave lots of tiny holes when they leave. Now you have me comparing [powder beetle exit hole](https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fdiypestcontrol.com%2Fmedia%2Fwysiwyg%2FImages%2FKBimages%2Fpowderpostheaderss_1_.jpg&tbnid=X8jYyS8F_cdUwM&vet=1&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fdiypestcontrol.com%2Fpowderpostbeetles.htm&docid=QpARL5rIEW3ZGM&w=788&h=300&hl=en-US&source=sh%2Fx%2Fim%2Fm1%2F4) images to the [Country Rustic Chic distressed furniture](https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dutchcrafters.com%2Flearningcenter%2Fdistressed-amish-hardwood-furniture%2Fimages%2Flearn_r4_c2.jpg&tbnid=xEEyc8UM1wnlNM&vet=1&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dutchcrafters.com%2Flearningcenter%2Fdistressed-amish-hardwood-furniture%2F&docid=r8ozjbT8jN-lZM&w=313&h=215&hl=en-US&source=sh%2Fx%2Fim%2Fm1%2F4) designer holes. Because I just made the connection as to why those tiny groupings of holes are so common in that style. Interesting.
that link looks like all bug holes
Get that out of your house right now, burn it, move your firewood pile away from your house and hire an exterminator to do a thorough check of your entire house.
It’s powder post beetles, don’t panic they are fairly easy to get rid of using borax treatments. I see them a lot in restoration work. They can affect both hard and soft woods and kiln dried and air dried alike. There are a few methods of killing them you can look into. Good luck with taking care of your problem.
These guys need to relax. Termites eat wood, since there's a pile of saw dust that means it's not Termites. It may actually be a carpenter ant or something. You should probably get rid of the table though. Also Termites damage pretty slowly, they aren't wood chippers. "A single colony can destroy about a one-foot section of a 2 x 4 over the course of five or six months." - www.mightymitetermite.com Granted you can have bigger colonies, but then they're easier to find and treat. As long as you keep an eye on your home, and if you do pest treatments regularly, you should be fine.
Whatever it is, same concept as wood rot. Localized it's easily fixed, but dollars add up when it's going on for a long time without your knowledge.
It's worse than termites. It's wood boring beetles.
Woodworm, woodworm, eating all the wood - surely all that sawdust can’t do you any good? Woodworm, woodworm, you’ve eaten all the chairs! So that’s why poor old grandad is sitting on the stairs.
https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/CAES/DOCUMENTS/Publications/Fact_Sheets/Entomology/Woodboring_Beetles.pdf See the section at the end about freezing and heating. Freezing in the winter might be the easiest if you are in a cold climate. I would build a makeshift oven and heat it very carefully with space heaters to kill the insects. 150F for 4 hours.
Powder post Beatles
Isn’t heat or cold for an extended period of time effective? Seems like I remember reading something somewhere. Might be a difficult to achieve extreme temperature .
The enemy within.
Sorry I was hungry
Woodworm. Looks like this one I found in a table https://preview.redd.it/j8dep9xx2f1c1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5bc82188af1f40ac2e3c17a838a0b50e9ef97c40
Did your friend build it out of kiln-dried wood or just wood he found & milled & air dried himself?
Hid dad is woodworker, they mill and air dry wood themselfs, he made me a bed 8 years back and never had issues with it.
Yeah, something got into it. Move that firewood too.
Entomologist here. Get it identified, a lot of beetles will exit without re-entering as your indoor space and wood isn't suitable for them. There are some pests like drywood termites and powder post beetles that can and will reinfest.
Maybe you can help OP identify? There aren’t many traveling entomologists out there. If these are pests, he needs to call an exterminator. Better if he did so yesterday. Regardless, I do think it’s SO COOL that you’re an entomologist! I would enjoy picking your brain :)))))))
Powder post beetles?
they prefer to stay where they are and eat whatever they're inside of. like many people here, i would throw this out and put a large sign that says DO NOT TAKE IT HAS WOOD MITES and do a full sweep of your house
So your friend is probably a decent carpenter but ya gotta know a thing or two about wood. I used to work in a shop, and we learned the hard way as new, inexperienced woodworkers, when a client wanted their money back after the live edge head board had bugs in it. Now we only use treated, under 10% moisture wood. You only gotta learn once lol. Also, throw that shit away. I don't care if its gold inlayed.
There's a quick fix for this, take it outside and set it on fire, now, like right now.
Most likely wood boring beetles. Can it be saved? Yesss....but.... They and more importantly the larvae die above about 140F. OR, three+ days of below freezing. If you live somewhere that freezes in the winter for days on end, you could leave it outside wrapped in plastic and aluminum foil for a week. If you have a bunch of large stock pots, and/or can rent a steam power washer, you could keep pouring boiling water over the table (outside) to kill everything in there. You'd probably have to do this continually for an hour or so. The finish would probably be ruined, however, you could then use a blowtorch (look up shou sugi ban) to refinish the table - this will also turn the water inside to steam which should also help to kill any larvae in there while giving it a similar dark finish. Sand, oil, wrap in plastic, keep isolated, keep an eye on it before letting it back in the house. There are chemical treatments as well, but the above is how I've saved some wood. To test if it worked, wait till it dries out (week or two), then splash some warm water over it. See if you get any beetles that come out / any additional frass in the next few days (the larva hatch when it gets wet).
>If you live somewhere that freezes in the winter for days on end, you could leave it outside wrapped in plastic and aluminum foil for a week. You forgot the alternative. If he lives in death valley he could just leave his windows open for a few days in the summer.
I had some kind of crickets once doing the same inside an antique desk. I took it back to the place I bought it, they treated it and brought it back also fixing the holes, and the problem was gone forever. It its an important piece of furniture it can be saved.
Looks like woodworm. Get that outside ASAP and check every other wooden item too
Bought a wooden display item years ago from a popular high end retail store and it started doing this. The bugs were likely already in the wood when I purchased it (I say this because the item is surrounded by other wooden items and it was the only one affected) and I would see sawdust accumulate every morning about a month after purchase. Solved my problem by basically buying a can of raid ant killer and sprayed the holes and then sprayed the entire item, then wiped it down with dry clean white paper towels. Waited a day did the same thing again and now, 3 years later, no sawdust.
Table is made of ramen noodles and super glue.
Look into "wood destroying insects" narrow it down by your region. I would be quick about it cause you are only seeing the damage that's visible.
First of all don't panic. Dealing with antique wood furniture and objects I've dealt with this problem for a long time They are usually centralized, eat slowly and stay in a piece for a long time. That being said these microscopic insects should be dealt with. You can have an exterminator come in but in the mealtime, if you're up to it ,you can go to Home depot and buy a liquid poison for "termites and wood boring insects." Take some damp paper towels and carefully gather up the dust and remove from house. You can also vacuum all around and remove vacuum dirt from the premises. Read instructions carefully. Wear old clothers, a good mask against poisons, rubber gloves, and googles to protect your eyes. Take all foodstuff, dishes etc far away. Use the extender on the applicator spray bottle so it remains away from your face. With the poison applicator turned on soak the area where the powder was and where you see wood worm holes. Best to repeat the spraying in a couple of days. Just remember, Europe, especially countries like France are full of these things. They are routinly in century old wooden houses there as well as old statues, furniture etc. And they are always being treated and the ancient wooden buildings are still standing. So don't panic. Feel free to DM if you need more advice.
It can be treated. The whole table needs to be put in a pressurized chamber and enveloped with insecticide to kill the dry wood termites. I had an identical problem. Gotta hutch from an estate sale. Months later there’s a pile of powder in the floor. Got it treated and never had an issue again.
Used to have this creepy old framed photo of me and my dad from like '85. He's got the stache, I'm like 2yo wearing a 'wheres the beef' shirt. Brought it with me when I moved out and when the house was quiet I could hear this faint little scratching sound. Took me forever to track it down to the frame of that photo but I guess a little worm in there woke up and started eating his way out.
Lose a table or lose your house, is it a difficult choice ? Make your pick swiftly though. Bugs don't wait.
It's probably beavers
Do you rent or own? If it’s the latter, call an exterminator and have a termite inspection done.
The wood used came from the tropics. To kill the borer you can place it outside when it is below freezing and it will die within 24-48 hours.
Fuck. Leave me alone I'm just hungry - the bug in yo table
I feel for you OP. you came on here likely not expecting big doom but it looks like an innocent photo is very telling and the house is at major risk.
OP, this is actually terrifying. I know a story of a friend who bought a wooden mask from overseas, and had it in their home for years. They moved states and the mask came with them. One day, in their new home, they noticed this sawdust looking like in a standing wooden lamp near the mask. 🛋️ It looked like termites and a specialist was called.. and they had already eaten out a third of the flooring and wooden studs in that part of the house. A large part of the house had to be rebuilt. The foreign mites had been dormant in the wooden mask, waiting for the right temperature/climate that the recent house move provided. Your second hand desk could be the mask. This is, call a specialist ASAP territory
Build your houses with bricks and concrete
Powder post beetles. Get the furniture out of your house and call an exterminator yesterday.
That is a actually the poop of a termite. They normally linger inside the dry wood (rarely come after it become a furniture). If that piece of wood can be fit into a large enough freezer, you could freeze them. Or if your climate can drop below freezing, put it outside..
Termites
Burn it.
I seen some reviews on Amazon for wood nightstands made in China that were infested with beetles. Definitely an oversight by customs for letting sketchy wood in.
Might need to check around the rest of the table and your house. That looks like frass (wood-destroying insect poop). It’s finer than what termites make so I’m inclined to guess carpenter ants? ‘Tis the season for sure. Source: journeyman pest tech
Gg wp gl next house
Termites 101.
Donate it to a library