ᐅ Woodworm in Timber Frame Houses – How to Protect Against It?
Created on: 19 May 2018 16:57
M
meister keks
Hello Forum,
For the past few days, I have been finding reddish-brown beetles in the house with growing concern. At first, I simply ignored them, but now we are killing 10-20 every day. After researching online, I was able to identify the species. All of them belong to the family of wood-boring beetles whose larvae prefer to eat wood.
The problem is as follows...
We have a timber-frame house, and naturally, you start wondering why this insect is here. Our house is sealed toward the foundation slab, so nothing can come in from there. Also, it cannot be through the windows since we mostly run the mechanical ventilation system and keep the windows closed. The beetle lays eggs in the wood, and the larvae feed on it. When they are fully developed, the beetles emerge. The larvae need 1–8 years to develop into beetles. Our house is not even 2 years old. This leads me to believe that the larvae must have already been present in the wooden construction components at the time of manufacturing. We have no damaged wooden furniture or similar; there is also no visible damage on the roof.
On Tuesday, I will take samples to a pest control expert who will tell me what species this is.
What if it is a bread beetle or a furniture beetle?
Are there any known cases related to this?
Who is responsible?
Theoretically, it should not be possible that we are responsible due to the beetle’s development time and the age of our house.
Maybe it’s a false alarm, but something doesn’t seem right.
Best regards
For the past few days, I have been finding reddish-brown beetles in the house with growing concern. At first, I simply ignored them, but now we are killing 10-20 every day. After researching online, I was able to identify the species. All of them belong to the family of wood-boring beetles whose larvae prefer to eat wood.
The problem is as follows...
We have a timber-frame house, and naturally, you start wondering why this insect is here. Our house is sealed toward the foundation slab, so nothing can come in from there. Also, it cannot be through the windows since we mostly run the mechanical ventilation system and keep the windows closed. The beetle lays eggs in the wood, and the larvae feed on it. When they are fully developed, the beetles emerge. The larvae need 1–8 years to develop into beetles. Our house is not even 2 years old. This leads me to believe that the larvae must have already been present in the wooden construction components at the time of manufacturing. We have no damaged wooden furniture or similar; there is also no visible damage on the roof.
On Tuesday, I will take samples to a pest control expert who will tell me what species this is.
What if it is a bread beetle or a furniture beetle?
Are there any known cases related to this?
Who is responsible?
Theoretically, it should not be possible that we are responsible due to the beetle’s development time and the age of our house.
Maybe it’s a false alarm, but something doesn’t seem right.
Best regards
C
chand198628 May 2018 08:48Do you have pets? Do you store bird food for the winter? Mulch bark for the garden?
I would check the food supplies again, specifically: all flours and the drawers where they are stored. Then meal, seeds, nuts. Same procedure.
Finally, any pet food or bedding you might have.
All of this is more likely than insects in the wood, although that cannot be completely ruled out.
I would check the food supplies again, specifically: all flours and the drawers where they are stored. Then meal, seeds, nuts. Same procedure.
Finally, any pet food or bedding you might have.
All of this is more likely than insects in the wood, although that cannot be completely ruled out.
M
meister keks28 May 2018 20:47DNL schrieb:
Wow, what a nightmare.
Are there any visible holes in the wood anywhere?
We had wood wasps.
They came in through the birch trees we have as decoration.
That was quite a shock at first.Unfortunately, no holes are visible; they now come out from under the baseboards. We have exceeded 30 of them per day...
To see anything, I would have to remove the drywall panels from the walls, but I am still waiting for a response from the home builder.
We have been collecting and documenting the beetles for several days, and when you open the jar with the beetles, a fresh wood smell comes out.
M
meister keks28 May 2018 20:49chand1986 schrieb:
Do you have pets? Do you store birdseed for the winter? Mulch for the garden?
I would suggest checking the food supplies again, specifically: all flours plus the drawers where they are kept. Then check cracked grains, seeds, nuts. Same procedure. Finally, any pet food or bedding you might have.
All of this is more likely than the wood itself, although that cannot be completely ruled out.We have a dog, but it is free of any issues.
Mulch is only in the garden near the plants.
We only have pet food for the dog, and there is nothing to be found there.
We have checked the food supplies again and found nothing...
We searched all the cabinets, even two small cherry pit pillows...
C
chand198628 May 2018 21:22What kind of baseboards do you have? Wooden ones as well? Removable? Or are they even nailed onto wooden battens?
M
meister keks28 May 2018 21:24According to the laminate packaging, it is oak plywood. Yes, I can remove it; I will do that tomorrow. I removed one, but you can’t see the wooden framework of the house there...
M
Mastermind128 May 2018 21:27Do you perhaps have a Swedish stove? And do you store wood in a basket? We have also kept all kinds of things in there before...
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