Wood Borer Treatment across Cape Town

The common furniture beetle, Anobium punctatum, is the one we find most often in older Cape Town homes, in pine floors, skirtings and furniture. Powder post beetles (Lyctus species) go for the sapwood of hardwoods and leave a very fine, flour-like powder. The big one is the European house borer, Hylotrupes bajulus, which attacks structural softwood like roof trusses and is a notifiable pest in the Western Cape, so suspected cases have to be reported. Older homes in areas with lots of untreated pine roofing are where we see the most borer activity. In thatch and exposed beams we also see other wood-boring beetles, which is why we identify before we treat.

Borer or something else? Look-alikes in Cape Town timber

Plenty of holes in wood have nothing to do with wood borer beetles, and treating the wrong problem wastes money. These are the ones we see confused most often.

Carpenter bees

Big black carpenter bees drill perfectly round holes, roughly the width of a finger, into dead wood: pergola beams, fence poles, untreated decking and old garden furniture. You get one or a few large holes, coarse sawdust below and a bee coming and going on warm days. That is not a borer infestation and it does not spread through a roof.

Wet rot

Soft, dark, cracked timber near a leak, under a bath, at the foot of a door frame or along a wall plate below a blocked gutter is usually fungal decay. There are no neat exit holes and no powder, just wood that has stayed wet. The fix is stopping the water and a builder replacing what has gone.

Termites

Termite damage tends to start where wood touches soil or masonry, and the galleries are lined or packed with mud and soil. Borer galleries are packed with fine powder instead. If you see earth inside the wood, tell us when you call.

Pinhole marks in new timber

Small dark-stained holes in new planks or poles are often from beetles that attacked the tree while it was still green. They die out as the wood dries and do not reinfest seasoned timber in your house, so there is nothing to treat.

Old nail and tack holes

Reclaimed floorboards and old Oregon pine often carry rows of square-ish holes with rust stains from carpet tacks and nails. They look alarming in a photo and mean nothing.

Wood borer by age and type of house

Where we look first depends a lot on when and how the house was built.

Victorian and Edwardian homes in Woodstock, Observatory, Wynberg, Muizenberg and the older parts of the Southern Suburbs often have Oregon pine floors, skirtings and staircases. Borer usually turns up where the floor runs close to a damp outside wall, under the stairs and in the cupboards nobody empties.

Cape Dutch buildings and old farmhouses in Constantia, the Helderberg and the Boland have heavy beams, often hardwood, with sapwood edges that powder post beetles like. Reed or thatch ceilings add their own issues, which our thatch treatment page covers.

Mid-century face-brick homes across the Northern and Southern Suburbs are mostly about the roof. The trusses have been up there for decades, and in many cases nobody has looked at them since the house was built.

Newer homes and complexes usually have treated trusses, so the risk shifts to what came in later: a reclaimed wood feature wall, home-made shelving in the garage, a pergola built from untreated poles or an antique cabinet from a market.

Questions to ask before you buy an older home

Borer is easier to deal with as a known cost than as a surprise after transfer. Ask the seller or agent:

1. When was the roof space last inspected, and is there a written report?
2. Have any trusses, beams or floorboards been replaced, and why?
3. Has there been a roof leak? Damp timber is where borer and rot both start.
4. Is any old furniture or reclaimed timber staying with the house?
5. What did the beetle inspection for the Certificate of Compliance actually cover, and were any areas inaccessible?

If you want a second look at a specific beam or piece of furniture, send a close-up photo of the holes and any powder on WhatsApp. For how we inspect and treat roof timbers and floors, see wood borer treatment in Cape Town, or phone 021 012 5825.

Quick answers

Wood Borer Treatment by suburb