16 May 2016
 Categories: , Blog

There are numerous valuable commodities in your home, even the materials from which its constructed. This is why it is important that you sufficiently maintain these materials and make sure that they are in good working shape at all times. One of the biggest issues that can affect wood materials in your home are wood destroying insects. Throughout the course of this brief article, you will learn about a few insects that can destroy wood in your home.

Wood Borers

Wood borers are not one type of insect, but rather a grouping of different insects. Although these insects can't do much more than cosmetic damage, cosmetic damage can still be quite expensive to repair or replace. Among common types of wood borers, you might see bark beetles, metallic wood borers, long horned wood beetles, and wood wasps. The look of all these insects varies wildly, as well. The long horned beetle, for example, is quite small, while a wood wasp looks a bit like a large bumblebee. You may also find these insects in places like your outdoor firewood collection.

Termites

Termites are, without a doubt, the most well known of all wood destroying insects. The flying insects destroy wood by burrowing into wood structures and creating tunnels throughout which they can travel. Termites can be quite stealthy when it comes to invading your home, however. The tunnels they dig are usually within the structure of the wood itself and sometimes they leave very little trace of any cosmetic damage. You will notice that you have a termite issue if you find that wood that was once stable has now become brittle to the touch, or that when prodded with a tool, like a screwdriver, the wood collapses with great ease.

Powderpost Beetles

These beetles can be hard to see, as they are less than an inch in length. They tend to destroy wood by laying their eggs just below the surface of the wood. After hatching, the newborn powderpost beetles gorge themselves on the uppermost layer of the wood, and sometimes just below the surface for extra nourishment. While they mainly commit themselves to cosmetically damaging your wood, they can also burrow tunnels throughout, much like the dreaded termite, but not to the extent that termites can. Discovering the presence of powderpost beetles is quite simple, since they can wind up doing quite a bit in terms of easily spotted surface damage to your wood structures.

If you notice the presence of any of the aforementioned pests in your home, pick up the phone and call a local and trusted pest control service as soon as you can. Contact a business, such as Select Pest Control, for more information.