Wood Boring Beetles In Hardwood Floors

Most of these insects cannot infest live trees because of the tree s natural defenses.

Wood boring beetles in hardwood floors.

While most wood boring insects need relatively fresh wood certain ones like powderpost beetles can re infest older seasoned wood. Hardwood oak maple bamboo and so forth floors may show signs of insect infestation sometime after the floor is installed. The first signs of infestation are small 1 16 holes that appear in the surface see beetles hardwood floors for pictures often accompanied by fine boring dust. Wood boring beetles such as powderpost japanese or any common furniture beetle can damage almost any wood structure.

These beetles threaten hardwood floors wood trim or furniture but would not be expected to attack softwood such as pine framing in a home. The longer wood is stored the higher the risk of infestation. The larvae of these wood borers feed on starch and other nutrients in the wood that were stored when the tree was alive. Wood boring beetles are most commonly identified by the emergence holes they leave in wood.

Lyctid beetles infest seasoned hardwood usually during the time that it is drying or is stored. Sometimes wood boring beetles are attracted by lights but do not infest wood. If it is instead anobiid powderpost beetles then the answer may be no the beetles could have infested after the floor was installed you ll see why below.