Termites are winged insects that live on the cellulose in wood and they create a series of tunnels in the wood as they chew through it.
Black junk eating at wood in attic.
Black beetle insect are predatory and they hunt for food in the darkness of the night.
There are many species of wood boring beetles but they all function the same way.
Wood boring beetles are insects whose larvae can live from two to five years within your home eating through the wood until they destroy it completely.
Subterranean and drywood termites are two of the most common types.
Black yeasts a sub group of the mold family that include two very common molds aureobasidium sp.
They are merely a nuisance should they find their way into your house.
Adults exit the wood when they are grown so the best indication of a wood boring beetle infestation will be small holes in the surface of the infested areas.
Wood boring beetles serve an important role in nature which is to break down wood so that it can be utilized by plants as food.
Often found in moist attics on plywood as well as on wood framing and rhinocladiella less often found in buildings.
This is the reason they go unnoticed until their population reaches a thousand level mark.
According to the university of california two of the most destructive species are c.
Coat the underside liberally.
They tunnel and feed for a couple of years then mature and grow pupating and emerging as adult beetles.
Our photo at left shows a closeup of aureobasidium sp.
The western black carpenter ant is uniformly black in color while c.
Wood chip mulch rocks and pine straw are the popular hiding spot for these black beetle insects.
Vicinus is typically red and black.
Dark black staining on wood surfaces if the wood in your attic shows any black discoloration the problem has moved beyond moisture.
The wood cockroach eats decaying organic matter such as rotting trees and leaf litter.
They don t eat your home s structure or furniture.
Because these roaches don t breed inside the home you seldom need to treat your home s interior.
You have mold that should be removed.
The most common wood nesting ants are called carpenter ants and come from the genus camponotus.
Adult beetles lay their eggs on the surface of a wooden item or just below it then their larvae damage wood burrowing through the timber which is their only food source.
According to eartheasy one application of soap will work to repel wasps for an entire season.
More mold microphotos can be seen.
Thus they bore their way to the surface.
Attic feels excessively hot or stuffy attics should feel breezy if they are properly ventilated.
They break down wood by laying eggs inside of cracks and holes in wood and then the larvae eat their way through the wood.
