What insect is damaging our hardwood floor?
Question:
We’ve experienced some damage in our hardwood floor that look like a wood-boring beetle. What could it be?
Answer:
Without a photo of the actual culprit, it’s tough to diagnose. However, I ran the pictures and information past our fantastic entomologist, Charlie Armstrong, who had the following to say:
“I can’t figure out the ‘extra’ cratering around the actual smaller ‘holes’ that are visible. It reminds me more of carpenter ant damage than anything a wood-boring beetle would do. So I would want to be alert to the possibility of carpenter ants I think, especially if the wood is soft and there are any moisture or ‘rot’ issues underneath the floor. Tell them that with wood-boring beetles, they should only be seeing concise, well-defined holes without the other gouging that they have there. The holes would look like the ones in this fact sheet if they were caused by wood-boring beetles: https://entomology.ca.uky.edu/ef616″