I had an exterminator company come out to look at the house primarily because I have some carpenter bee problems in the eaves. The inspector had little interest in the carpenter bees, but offered to do a free inspection of the house for other pests. In the basement the inspector found evidence of powder post beetle damage. I now believe that this damage is at least mostly old because my dad says that these pencil lead sized holes in the old hand hewn beams have been there at least since
1950 when my granpa bought the house. Does anyone on the list know how I can tell if this pest is currently living in the wood? I just read up a bit on these bugs on the web and apparently they live in the grub stage most of the year and only live as very small beetles for a short while and only come out in the dark so they are hard to see. The exterminator company wants $1,000 to treat the beams, but I don't want to pay if the damage is old and the bugs are no longer there.The inspector had me real nervous with their description of the potential damage that these bugs do, so I signed on to have this treatement done, but now I'm having second thoughts and might want to try to cancel if the bugs are not currently in the wood....
Any advice from folks who have had experience with this type of bug would be greatly appreciated.....
Rob in Penna.