How To Protect Your Home from Borers

The borer, also known as a wood borer, is one of those insects. Borers, which are actually a subgroup of beetles, eat wood and destroy it, usually in earlier developmental stages.

New Zealand Borers

There are seven types of borers in New Zealand. The common house borer is the most common species. They create small 2-4mm flight holes on the surfaces of timber, which are accompanied by piles of sawdust. The two-toothed longhorn borer is another common borer type. The two-toothed longhorn borer is native to New Zealand. It is a larger beetle. Its flight holes can be up to 7mm. It is less likely to be found in buildings than the common house borer.

Food Sources

Borers use wood as a house and as a food source. Female borers lay a large number of eggs on bare timber surfaces. They may also use old borer holes to lay their eggs. Their eggs hatch in about a month. The larvae bore into the wood, where they can remain for several years. In fact, the two tooth borers can stay in wood for up to 11 years before they exit. Two tooth borers can attack living trees as well as timber.

Signs of Borers

Once you get rid of the borers, you have to look at the strength of the remaining timber. If the timbers are too weak, you may need to replace or reinforce the timber. In fact, by the time you spot borer damage, the timber may be too damaged to salvage. Since borers hatch in wood and bore their way out to fly away, much of their damage is hidden. You only see the holes when the other damage is already complete. That is why it is so important to look for little holes in the wood and piles of sawdust, because those are the first signs of borers.

Preventing Borers

You also want to take steps to keep the borers from returning. Fortunately, there are successful long-term treatments for borers. We can apply a product with an insecticide to the surface of your timbers, which can prevent borers from infesting the timber. However, long-term treatments work on bare timber. If the timber is painted or varnished, you may need multiple long-term insecticide treatments. However, you need treatments that target the inside of the timber. While you may see adult borers die after using mists, fogs, or bombs, they will not kill the larvae that are inside the timber.

While borers are difficult to eradicate, we can help. Flick Anticimex has a variety of pest control and treatment programs designed to treat and prevent pest control problems.