Tiny frass fell from my wooden roof all over my room?
Question:The owner called some guys to fix the roof, when they were hammering nails on the roof, i was away and when they finished i went to my room and all i saw, well at first i saw some dirt, then i got some looked closer and saw little round woody pellets, they were really small i could hardly see them, then i found them everywhere, i found way more on my bed, but they where everywhere so i just cleaned, I have also been hearing noises on the roof on top of my head since i sleep on the top bunk bed the roof is really close to me, i looked around but saw nothing, but i keep hearing this constent noise, i can't really describe it but it never seems to go away, its not loud though only i can hear it since im close to the roof can anyone tell me whats going on can it be termites? i haven't seen any termites anywhere so im not sure, i also haven't seen any wings. Also if it is termites what can i do to get rid of them? does the whole roof need to be replace, my whole room is made of wood.
Answers:
Termites make a real light kind of crunching noise when inside wood. they leave a residue as you described, somewhat of a dirty real fine sawdust. Since you are not the owner, I would just bring it to the owners attention and let them worry about it. It takes decades for termites to do any real damage, but to answer your question there are several exterminators and probably a few termite inspectors in your phone book.
Termites are a possibility, to test for termites you need a pushpin, like a small sharp screwdriver, try to stab the area where you think there is termite activity, usually near the ground first. WARNING THIS IS A DESTRUCTIVE TEST, however if you have termites you need to find out before the house is totally eaten. If the pushpin goes into the wood several centimetres and you are able to pry large sections away then it has been eaten and you have termites. Test a good bit of good wood to compare if unsure, but if you have termites you will know.
Now your particular problem sounds like you have termites in the roof beams not in the boards of your timber lined ceiling, this is why your roof needed repairs and if this is the case it will need more in future. If you are lucky then this is not your problem however the dust is termite poo and not good to breath and eat. If you don't own the house you can't treat for termites as they are tough and usually live somewhere outside so killing them won't help, treatments range from ineffective to very expensive, so don't even try.
Wood worm is another possibility but small holes would be visible all over large parts of the boards.
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