The Borer Menace: Protecting Your Home from This Timber Pest
When Perth residents think about all the dangers their homes might face, most think about fires and water damage first. If the mind wanders to consideration of insects at all, such thoughts usually tend to focus on the well-known termite problem that so many Western Australians know all too well. There’s another insect infestation that can also be extremely devastating to a Perth home, however, and it’s a menace that every homeowner needs to learn about. It’s known as the house borer – a name that, unfortunately, describes this insect all too well.
The House Borer
House borers are flying insects that attack soft woods such as pine – a wood that is present in many structures throughout the Perth metropolitan area. They also are drawn to fir and spruce timber, indicating that their preferred source of food focuses on dry coniferous wood. It is important to note that they do not tend to infest treated wood.
The adults lay their eggs along the cracks they find in floorboards, various wooden objects, and other wood sources. The hatched larvae begin their lives by digging into the timber where they are then undetectable to the human eye, and immediately begin eating the wood they find there. From that point on, they continue to tunnel and eat as they mature. As they develop toward adulthood, they bore their way to the surface of the wood and enter the pupa stage. Once that stage of development is complete, they come out as adults so that the process can begin all over again.
Different species of borer focus on different wood types, with some being drawn to hardwoods like oak and mahogany while others crave pine and cedar. That diversity among the different varieties of borers means that virtually all untreated wood can be at risk, depending on where a homeowner lives and which species are present in his or her area.
Those borer species can include everything from the hardwood-eating Powderpost Beetles that targets sapwood in some timber, to the Furniture Beetle that prefers softer woods. The former tend to attack newer timber, while the latter focus their attention older wood, especially along floorboards. Identification of different species is best left to the professionals, since treatment can vary.
A Serious Concern
The European house borer is a particularly troublesome pest that can wreak incredible havoc on your home. Known for its propensity for seeking out softwoods, this insect was first detected in the area in 2004. Unlike termites and some other infestations, the spread of EHB can take several years just to encompass a few hundred meters of area. While that might seem like a positive, it can actually be one of the most worrisome aspects of any infestation since the slow progress can inhibit detection.
In 2014, the state government was so concerned about this borer that it launched a multimillion dollar campaign to control its spread. The program was designed to provide protection for both existing and newly constructed homes after the government estimated that as many as 300,000 Perth homes could be at risk from this invasive species. That program established more controls over the movement of timber within identified infestation zones to ensure that the borer did not spread to other areas.
At present, the effort has worked well enough to isolate the infested timber within various pockets of Perth’s metropolitan area. Many experts in the region assert that the official containment effort has succeeded in preventing the infestation from spreading not only to other areas of Perth and Western Australia, but to the area’s timber exports as well.
The European house borer poses a special problem for pest control – and one that can make it much more difficult to manage than termites. Ordinary structural barriers and chemical applications have little effect due to the fact that these are not just crawling insects. They are beetles. As such, they have wings, and treatment would require chemical applications of a far greater area than is typically needed for the control of termite infestations. Many areas of entry are difficult to access with these expensive treatments, including joints within the home. As a result, containment is considered the current best option.
Detecting House Borers
Obviously, anything that is doing its damage from within a structure’s interior is going to be difficult to detect with the human eye. However, that does not mean that these creatures leave no sign of their presence. In fact there are a number of telltale signs that can indicate that your home is experiencing an infestation of these pests. For example:
- Wood borers tend to leave exit holes in the wood they have infested. These holes are the results of adult beetles exiting after they’ve tunneled their way through the wooden structure or object. Holes tend to be either oval or round, and usually have edges that are sharp. You can sometimes see the tunnels as well, though they are very small and can be difficult to identify.
- That exit process also tends to leave wood dust around the hole.
- Adult borers, both dead and alive, can sometimes be observed around holes. They are often found in the area of windowsills.
- Weakened wood. This can include floorboards that have seen structural damage from the borer activity, as well as wood that has crumbled around those same areas, or near the roof or joints in the house.
The Importance of Taking Action
Wood borers of all kinds make very poor houseguests. Left unchecked, the life cycle of the infestation results in repeated incursions into the timber of your home over and over again. Over time, that can lead to serious structural damage of the type that can weaken roofs, floorboards, wall supports, and even chairs, tables, and other furniture items.
When an infestation is detected or suspected, it is important to contact a licensed professional to evaluate the problem. In fact, if your home is constructed with untreated pine, it is a good idea to at least conduct a search for signs that an infestation may be present, before the damage can become so severe that it becomes prohibitively costly to repair. If you find no signs of infestation, but are still concerned, call for help.
The life cycle of some borers can last for years. That’s years worth of time that these insects have to quietly go about their business within your home, consuming the wood in your house, and ruining both furniture and structural necessities. By the time you know that there’s a problem, it may already be too late.
Calling the Experts
Professional pest control experts are adept at identifying the signs of infestation and tracking down the source. Part of that process involves a determination as to whether the infestation is active or whether the signs just indicate previous damage with no active presence of the pest. If the beetles are actively in the process of infesting your home, the expert will devise treatment options and deliver recommendations to you.
These treatment options are generally designed to break the insect’s life cycle at one of its critical stages. The larvae stage is considered by many to be the most vulnerable, and is often the specific focus of professional treatment options. Those options can include:
- Heat treatments designed to kill the insects with non-chemical heat. This option tends to limit damage to the affected areas.
- Fumigating the affected area. This option can be effective at destroying the pests, regardless of which life cycle stage the insect is currently passing through.
- Water treatment. This involves the insertion of a special solution into cracks, holes, and other areas where the pest may be or is likely to target. This option can serve as a preventative measure, ensuring that wood borers do not find an attractive area to lay their eggs – which can result in the adults simply moving on to more favorable locales.
No treatments are completely effective of course, so follow-up evaluations are important too. Moreover, homeowners should remember that borers that are deep within the timber may not emerge for several years after the treatment. That can cause some homeowners to become concerned. However, the important thing to remember is that successful treatment will mean that the eggs that these adults try to deposit in treated cracks and crevices will die. Once and area is treated professionally, that insect’s life cycle is ended – as is its ability to wreak havoc in your home.
No homeowner ever wants to contemplate these types of unseen menaces, but there is sometimes no way to avoid the problem. Like termites and other timber pests, borers are a threat that won’t simply ignore your home because you want them to. That makes it absolutely essential for you to remain vigilant to the signs of infestation, and seek professional help as soon as borer damage is suspected. The quicker these insects are dealt with, the safer your home and belongings will be!