I live in India [tamilnadu]. Recently we are building our new home with wooden frames for the windows and doors, but the wood being used contains strange markings. When asking the carpenter about it, he reported that they were the rings of the tree. Typically I don't trust him because it had small holes within them. The wood being used is country wood [African] which the carpenter bought for making the frames and doors. I've attached the photos taken around most of the places where I find them as bug active zones.

For my satisfaction, I went to many places to verify whether it's worm active or bug affected. Something like that. I got a 50/50 answer, half I consulted said it was active but half denied it.

Please do suggest, is it good to continue with this wood or else what would be the solution to render it? I'm grateful to have an answer. I mentioned the place in order to verify the region where the wood is being used.


Google Drive folder with pictures

New developments are found on the wood , saw dust are found only at zoomed view.

Link: New development drive photo

  • Mostly, that just looks like wood...? – keshlam Dec 29 '15 at 15:58
  • 1
    It looks like wood knots (normal in wood) to me and not worm holes. – Maxime Morin Dec 29 '15 at 16:00
  • Then what kind of scenario s should I look in that wood if the wood is affected by worm or other bugs, is applying terminator or anti termite spray helps it? – SathyaNarayanan Dec 30 '15 at 4:48
  • If you see fresh sawdust or new damage, insects are burrowing through the wood. If you don't, that's no guarantee, but you don't need to worry about it yet. Note that many tropical hardwoods are inherently insect-resistant; since we don't know what kind of wood was used, we can't say if that's true in your case or not. – keshlam Dec 30 '15 at 4:57

After looking at your pictures, most of them appear to be normal from knots in the tree, not worm damage.

Also to note. Even if there were worms, most lumber is heat treated to remove moisture and this process should kill any worms living in the wood at the time. I suspect most wood shipped internationally will have something like this done, just to prevent new bugs from infesting new shores.

As one of the comments pointed out, the biggest thing to look for is if there are new holes or fresh sawdust showing continued activity. But ultimately, most worms eat the wood, turn into an adult and leave. Once gone, unlikely to lay new eggs on 'dead' wood like that.

Termites and other similar bugs are a completely different problem, but any carpenter that can't identify that problem, won't be in business long.

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