I have lived here 10+ years and this has never come up so I'm asking.

Replacing some doors/jambs and the jambs are full of termites. Actually it's only the part that contacted the concrete foundation.

I'm guessing there are more around (kitchen cabinets that are on the floor, though they sit on tile).

The installer indicated something about a spray can of something.

Anyone know about this?

I prefer not to have to have the entire house tented.

Thanks.

The rental I am in apparently was invaded by termites (actually the whole fracc.) a number of years ago and at that time a contractor came in and drilled holes in the floor (through grout lines in the tile) and injected some treatment into the soil below the floor. Seems to have done the trick - haven't seen any in the 4 yrs. I have been in here.

Frequently, they are not termites inside the home, but tiny wood eating beetles that are already in the lumber used for the furniture, cabinets and door jambs, etc. If the wood was not properly treated before use, they live inside and eventually destroy the wooden structure.
However, when found in furniture, the simple solution is to turn the piece upside down and note the tiny holes at the bottom of the legs, etc. If you drill a small hole and keep filling it with a light oil, even furnityre oil, for several days, it will penetrate their channels and kill them. Of course, you would have to remove door parts to do the same thing, so it might be better to replace them and burn the old ones. It worked for me. In the US southern states, they were called “powder post beetles“ and were common in pine, spruce, etc. They are the curse of wooden masts on sailing vessels, if not prevented before construction & wherever found, they may not become apparent for years.

powderpost beetles leave a fine powdery light coloured dust and termites leave a larger brownish coloured deposit. i've had both here. it's actually the larvae of the powderpost beetle that does the wood eating. then the beetle comes out of the hole upon maturity.

These are very tiny wormy looking things and they have made tunnels in the wood.

It's all getting torn out and replaced. Not cheap.

Sorry Clueless. Just finished removing all the bad wood in my floor. Miserable job for my poor mini maestro but look great now.

Clueless wrote:These are very tiny wormy looking things and they have made tunnels in the wood.

It's all getting torn out and replaced. Not cheap.

it looks like you have powderpost beetle larvae in the wood rather than termites.

Just as an FYI......for smaller wooden items that have these beetles you can put the item in your freezer for a few days. The cold kills everything including eggs, etc.

I had a wooden mask that was infested, put it in the freezer for 2 days and now after two years still no sign of anything anymore.

they are called pulilla (phoetic) Comex at least in Chiapas sells a produc you can apply on the wood to protect it. You are supposed to inject it in the holes as well.
In Chiapas the houses where we live have wooden beams as and ceilings and the wood is soaked in theat very toxic product but the bugs are endemic and they usually find a way to attack the wood no matter what you do. You have to keep after it. It comes from a moth and the worms are its larvae according to what an exterminator told me down there. He did not want the job so we apply some of the product we get from comex. You have to use a mask to apply it it is pretty toxic.

it ain't no moth here. we had the post hole beetle larvae in an equipale love seat which i had done twice under the cover. nada. so i happened to have a vet needle for horses which i filled with uncut stough and injected directly into the fresh holes and voila no mas post hole beetles.

We may be talking about the same thing, the moth I believe could become a beetle. The exterminator showed me picture of moth but I always have heard of betles as well.I have a feeling it is all one and the same.

the post hole beetle is just that,a brown beetle,not a moth.

thn we have a different type of bug.

Just "polilla madera" and google and you will see the bugs. Some are like beetles and some like moths, I do not know if it is the smae bug or not but they are showing both types.

since i have seen them doing their thing i don't need to google them. fixed it with my method and haven't seen them since. moths don't turn into beetles. what i have learned is the bug people here refer to any insect that eats wood,they call a termita. first time i gave them our love seat and they removed the plastic,there were all kinds of the brown beetles dead on the floor. look up post hole beetles and you will see some nice fotos too.

Jim had a termite problem that they had to deal with. When we built we were told to have all of our woodwork termite treated.

Of course youMr know it all, I have seen them too and spoke at lengh with the exterminator down there and you are wrong. There are termitas and there is polilla two different insects The termitas look like ants but are diferent and the others are larvaes .
Under hte paapa here I also hav large holes in the wood caused by some insect as well and large bees (much larger= go in there and they will sting the heck out of you if you bother them.

The beetles are called algavaro accoding to google, do not know if that is the case in Mexico but they are different from the polilla.

brigitte wrote:Of course youMr know it all, I have seen them too and spoke at lengh with the exterminator down there and you are wrong. There are termitas and there is polilla two different insects The termitas look like ants but are diferent and the others are larvaes .
Under  hte paapa here I also hav large holes in the wood caused by some insect as well and large bees (much larger= go in there and they will sting the heck out of you if you bother them.

i know it all about these post hole diggers because i dealt with them directly after twice taking the loveseat to the exterminator across from pemex. they have had success with other bug issues here in mi casa fortunately. and you misunderstood-she calls everything that eats wood TERMITAS not i . she probably does that to make life easier for her when dealing with gringos.
you seem to prefer google to real life so here ya go-post hole beetle-"escarabajo de hojos". and  pic of one and what the residue looks like when their larvae are busy eating inside the wood. termite poop is called fass and looks like tiny brown pellets around where they've been busy not sawdust like the beetle. these 2 things are the only wood eaters the op needs to think about in this area not all the other things you keep adding with your googling but go ahead if that excites you.

Thanks you Pedro, I checked for the pictures and names in google because I do not know the names in English, just knew them in French and Spanish.
I have the beetles holes under the palapa here and I have the moth bolilla things in furniture and in the beams and so on in Chiapas so I have a idea of what the problem is in real life. As Canuck Bob said when you have the polilla in small pieces, putting them in the freezer will take care of them. The exterminator I spoke with in Chiapas is an enthemologist so he does not call all bugs termitas..
Since we all have a problem with the polilla is Chiapas we hav a pretty good idea of that it looks like and thank you for the picture but it is not polilla...

the op lives here and not chiapas so why should he care about something that he doesn't have to deal with. i am talking about post hole beetles and i named as such with the pics never said one thing about polillas-you did and neither did bob, we are talking about what we have to deal with here in chapala where we and the op live and you are talking about chiapas and an insect there. i don't care about chiapas since i don't live there but good luck with your moths and stinging bees and whatever else you have there. just be nice and not bring stough with you in your luggage on your return.AGAIN-the picture is A POSTHOLE BEETLE/ESCARABAJO DE HOYOS found in chapala, so of course it's not some MOTH/POLILLA from chiapas. please read carefully before you criticize por nada.

Sorry Pedro but there is polilla HERE too I have it one one of the chair outside AND we have the beetle holes that are larger and where nasty stinging insects move in as well.
Both insects make holes in the wood and the beetle holes are larger than the moths´holes.
No need to go to Chiapas to know that.

U2 should get a room.... snork .....

brigitte wrote:Sorry Pedro but there is polilla HERE too I have it one one of the chair outside AND we have the beetle holes that are larger and where nasty stinging insects move in as well.
Both insects make holes in the wood and the beetle holes are larger than the moths´holes.
No need to go to Chiapas to know that.

Maybe the moths stowed away in your luggage? vehicle? and hitched a ride back.

Pedro is NOT going to be happy.  

escarabajos de hoyos [beetle] holes are not large as the picture shows. so you did already bring us some vermin from chiapas?.