Help!

We found Powder Post Beetles in BR111 engineered wood. Has anyone else had this problem? Where did these things come from?


Thanks,
Jeb

Not BR111. Seen it with Walnut and the solid Patina. Are your sure they aren't common bug holes. Powder Post leaves a very distinct hole. Have any pics?

An exterminator came out and examined the floor. He said that they were powder post beetles. They could have come from furniture I guess but their origin is a mystery that is yet to be solved.

If fresh holes are found powder post or lyctid beetles ..Possitive ID should be preformed by a entomologist ..Mant pest control personal are not quailified in identifying insects of this sort ..
From the NWFA Tech Manual in Problems , cause , and cures ...

Ya, you don't know how many times, I have sent off insects the pest control guy said came out of the wood flooring, and he called the powder post beetles, and the home needed to be tented and fumigated. $7000, maam!!

Then the lab found them to be carpenter ants or termites, of some sort, and not once were they ever powder post beetles nothing to do with the actual wood from the manufacturer. The chain of shipping and storage after it leaves the manufacturer, has a lot to do with it.

Oh and the funniest story was the pest control guy, called unfilled top nailed holes, powder post beetles. $7000 maam!

I'm in the wrong business AustinFloorguy ..
Jeb ,Have you seen any little piles of dust around a 1/16 " diameter hole ?

In the past 2 years, we have had 4 occurances, 2 in unfinished flooring, and 2 in pre-finished flooring, material came from 3 different manufacturers. Prior to that, in over 40 years in the flooring game, we never encountered them.
Hoping someone has a rational explanation, as well as a solution.
Up to this point, we as the installation company, have assumed responsibility, although the manufacturers deny any culpability since they cannot apparently determine whether their wood has dormant infestations that are indetectable.
Good luck, and if anyone has any ideas, I would be happy to hear about them

I have recently noticed very small perfectly round holes all over my pre-engineered BR-111 wood flooring. Suddenly, they seem to be everywhere. No dust or termite excrement to be found nearby. Termite inspector coming out this Friday.

Called the floor installer and they will claim no responsibility. Is there any recourse?

The floors were very expensive - Amendoim. Cost 15K to install five years ago. Is is possible that the insects were there to begin with? Is there any way to prove this?

Thanks for any advice you can provide.

Whether you could prove it or not, there is no manufacturer that will accept financial responsibility for them. Since the only way they could enter your home through the flooring is in egg form, they would be indetectable and can take up to 2-3 years (or more, I have heard) to emerge.
I know from hard past history that manufacturers in general assume no responsibility, although we, as a supplier, have stepped up to the plate on several occasions as an expensive goodwill gesture.
We now longer do this, except to the degree of supplying replacement boards for the affected area. This seems to be the definitive corrective procedure, rather than the panic response of ripping out entire floors.

Powder post cannot eat through urathane finishes to reinfest the floor once emerged from their dormant state. The proper way to deal with them in a floor is remove and replace the effected boards and move on with life. I also have seen people leave the boards treat with boric acid and recoat the floor. Dont let the bug man scare you into thinking they are going to eat your house. PPBeatles like sugar and sapwood, see them more often in hickory and ash than oak for some reason. That given its still pretty rare occurance, of the gazilion feet of flooring I have sold over the past 15 years I have run into two cases. One was in a hickory floor that sat in the garage with no door for six or eight weeks prior to install and the other was an oak floor that came from a salvage yard that had all kinds of junk wood laying around.