You are vacuuming the spare room and notice a tiny pile of sawdust on the skirting board. You wipe it away, thinking nothing of it. A week later, the exact same pile is back.
That is not just regular household dust settling in the corners. That is frass—digested wood pushed out by larvae currently chewing through the structural skeleton of your home.
Right now, in May 2026, West Auckland is seeing a massive surge in urban pests following last year’s mild winter and hot summer. While everyone is focused on the rats in the ceiling, a much quieter threat is eating the floorboards.
If you want to stop your house from turning into a giant sponge, you need to get your Common House Borer ID right immediately. Misidentifying this pest gives it years to cause silent, expensive destruction.
Key Takeaways
To accurately perform a Common House Borer ID, look for 2-4mm circular flight holes and fresh piles of fine sawdust (frass) under timber. Adult beetles are 3-4mm long and brown. Eradication requires professional, deep-penetrating insecticidal treatments on bare wood, not surface-level DIY bug bombs.
