How to get rid of Borer in your furniture

Borer is also known as Woodworm and Furniture Beetle in other parts of the world. The larvae of the beetle eat through wood; not just the wood of your house, such as weatherboards, floorboards and joists, they also eat untreated wooden furniture. You may find flight holes appearing in the surface of the wood, these are where adult beetles have eaten their way out.

Borer larvae emerge from eggs laid by the adult beetles on bare wood or in old flight holes. The larvae eat their way through the interior of the wood for 2-4 years and then pupate just below the surface before emerging as an adult and eating their way out creating a new flight hole. Emergence is between October and March. The small brown beetle adults fly off, mate and the females lay eggs on bare wood, completing the life-cycle.

You might not notice your house timbers are being attacked by borer until you look for the damage in the dark places like your sub-floor, it is also not always obvious that furniture is being attacked. The exit/flight holes in the wood are most likely to be in the underside of the furniture, interior or rear; places that are in lower light.

How to Get Rid of Borer in Furniture and protect the Furniture for Many Years

Usually, it is easier to treat and protect furniture than it is to treat your house timbers because the wood is easier to access and there is less to treat.

First search for evidence of borer in all your wooden furniture. Look for the characteristic 1-3 mm diameter flight holes or piles of wood dust (frass) that falls out of flight holes. Search undersides, interiors, backs etc. of the furniture. For upholstered furniture you should, if possible, remove the upholstery.

Apply borer fluids to kill borer within the wood and protect the treated wood for many years.

Inject flight holes using the NO Borer Injector or Drop Dead Borer Injector Spray. Attach the nozzle to the aerosol can spray head. Then, with fingers behind the flange on the end of the nozzle, firmly press the tapered end of the nozzle into the flight hole and press the actuator button to inject fluid into the hole for about 1 second. The fluid is forced through the labyrinth the borer larvae created killing any borer within or near the labyrinth. Wipe off any excess fluid using a clean rag or tissue.

Caution: Wear impervious gloves and eye protection when injecting. Fluid may emerge from the flight holes of adjacent labyrinths.

Paint or spray NO Borer Wood Protection onto all accessible bare wood of the furniture, e.g. undersides of feet, drawer interiors, backboards.

Borer fluid will not penetrate painted, varnished or polished wood surfaces but borer beetles will not lay their eggs on such surfaces, except for flight/exit holes in the such coated surfaces.

Ideally, the coating can be removed, the wood treated with the borer fluid and then a new coating applied.

Note: For small areas, the NO Borer Injector or Drop Dead Borer Injector Spray can be used to spray fluid onto the bare areas; remove the nozzle and spray as a normal aerosol.

Fumigate the rooms where the furniture is kept with Drop Dead Insect Bug Bomb/s (borer bomb). Fumigators kill any borer adults that may be in the room to prevent them from mating and laying more eggs on any wooden furniture or building timbers. For best control fumigation would be carried out annually in the flight season (Oct-Mar).

In this way, you can protect your wooden furniture for many years and help prevent the furniture from becoming a reservoir of infestation that might attack house timbers.