Something is eating my new kitchen chair!

[Nonny Mouse]

Some time back I bought some new kitchen chairs at the local Sears clearance centre, and the gods rejoiced, or at least I did. They were exactly the kitchen chairs I had always wanted and a near-perfect match for the table I had bought fifteen years ago that I finally had a place of my own to use in.

But shortly thereafter I found a small pile of fine dust on the floor under one of them. "Odd," I thought. "Where could that have come from?" I shrugged and swept it up.

A few days later I noticed a similar small pile of dust on the seat of the same chair. I brushed it away with my hand and found--a hole. Right in the seat of the chair, and a good half-inch long. I cleaned out the whole and filled it with chili powder, hoping that wouold discourace whatever had done it. And all was well until last night, when I discovered yet another pile of dust and corresponding hole. This time I checked the chair over carefully for more holes and found the one under the seat where the original pile of dust had no doubt come from. I poured vinegar into all the holes, hoping that will do something.

All told there are now three holes in my new chair. Nothing else in the apartment appears to show signs of being eaten, including the matching chair, and I'd like to keep it that way. I'd also like to avoid introducing toxic substances into my home environment if I can help it. Nor do I really want to just get rid of the chair.

Any advice?

[hambubba]

Termites?! Weird it's just in the chairs, though. However - I would make a check around your place to see if you have them anywhere else. Leaving a "pile" sounds like some kind of borer, not sure a termite would leave much behind. It might have been something that was already in the chair's wood.

Hmm... are they getting out, or getting in? If it's a regular event, trashbag a chair and see if anything comes out.

[Nonny Mouse]

Originally Posted by hambubba

Termites?! Weird it's just in the chairs, though. However - I would make a check around your place to see if you have them anywhere else. Leaving a "pile" sounds like some kind of borer, not sure a termite would leave much behind. It might have been something that was already in the chair's wood.

Hmm... are they getting out, or getting in? If it's a regular event, trashbag a chair and see if anything comes out.

If they were getting in, I would expect to see some evidence of damage elsewhere, like on the table. I think Eddylizard's probably right.

A fellow at church had some creative suggestions involving microwaves (It's a bloody chair!) and dry ice. I think I'm going to put the chair in a clear plastic garbage bag and see what happens. (I confess to being just as much curious as annoyed.)

Nonny

[jimmy101_again]

Originally Posted by Nonny Mouse

I think I'm going to put the chair in a clear plastic garbage bag and see what happens. (I confess to being just as much curious as annoyed.)

Put it in the plastic bag then spray with a good bug killer and let it sit for a few days in the bag. You might not want to directly spray the bug killer on the finished wood or fabric but it would be nice to get it into as many of the holes as you can find.

If you are gong to keep the chair you want to KILL whatever is eating it. You don't want to just chase the critters someplace else.

[Nonny Mouse]

I had a brainstorm after I got offline the other day and treated the chair the way my aunt used to treat anthills in her yard--I poured boiling water into the holes. It raised the grain on the chair's unfinished bottom a little but otherwise caused no damage. I then wrapped the back and seat of the chair in clear plastic and so far there are no further signs that the chair is being munched on. If nothing else happens by Christmas I'll unwrap the chair and apply some wood filler to the existing holes. Otherwise I'll consider trying an insecticide.

[snapdragonfly]

If you can somehow heat the chair up that would kill them (assuming the boiling water didn't get all of them somehow and you don't want to raise the grain any more) - bugs die at a certain temperature. I know for bed bugs it's 114 degrees; I cannot find a specific temp for wood worms (which if you google wood worms that absolutely sounds like what you have) but I bet if you steamed the chair that would kill them.

Here's a pretty good article that gives alternatives to a lot of spraying with a lot of sort of intimidating chemical names.
http://living.oneindia.in/home-n-gar...ree-home2.html

They don't say exactly how to heat the furniture though. I know that if it were a hot sunny Texas day, you could put a chair in a big black plastic garbage bag, leave it out in the sun all day, and the solar gain would probably get over 114 if it was 100 degrees outside. Or put inside a van with the windows closed in the sun as we know it gets hot enough in a vehicle to kill a pet or kid - I believe it can get up to, like, 140 degrees or something like that inside a car.

Of course now it's not hot outside but perhaps you can figure out a way.

What made me think of it was this bug killing company I heard about that would essentially wrap the house in plastic wrap and heat it up. (you had to take out any candles or like items) Heat simply and effectively kills bugs and apparently if it's hot enough, larvae and eggs too, and does not harm most objects or leave nasty residue.

Just a thought.

~or you could make them exchange the chairs.

edit: looking around the web I see that you might need to get to over 140 to kill some kinds of bugs.

eta again: apparently freezing temps will do the trick too. http://www.raphaelsfurniture.com/index3c654c180.htm

[Eddylizard]

It sounds to me like the larval stages of the any number of woodboring beetles (Woodworms). I don't know what the specific treatment is, but I suspect it will involve something toxic unfortunately. My suspicion would be that they were already present in the wood this particular chair was made from.

ETA I so, I think it's a choice between using pyrethrins, or getting rid of the particular chair and fast. There may be other options, I'm not sure.

[bjohn13]

I would call Sears...or maybe even bring the chair(s) to Sears because there is a good chance they might not believe you.

That said, no way would I keep those chairs in my home.

[Bonnie]

Originally Posted by bjohn13

I would call Sears...or maybe even bring the chair(s) to Sears because there is a good chance they might not believe you.

So, Nonny Mouse, what did the sales/customer rep at Sears say when you reported that one of your chairs was defective, unusable, and essentially not desirable for keeping indoors because of the bugs inside it? I recognize you purchased it at a clearance center, but I'd think it worth a shot contacting the store (if you haven't already done so) to see if a replacement chair could be obtained. Perhaps they'd at least give you a refund or compensation for your troubles.

-- Bonnie