Fine Debris At Base Of Siding Looks Like Insulation Dust

An expert can usually tell which insect left the frass by looking at it under magnification.

Fine debris at base of siding looks like insulation dust.

I discovered little pyramids of real sawdust on the driveway apron next to garage doors. Before you call in a heating cooling hvac contractor there are a few steps that you can take yourself. In a building exposed to pressures from high stack effect warm air rising or mechanical pressures such as those from duct leakage or exhaust fans staining can sometimes occur at the carpet edge where the interior or exterior wall joins the carpet. Depending on the insect frass contains chewed up wood pieces or fecal pellets that are mostly wood along with dead insects and miscellaneous debris excavated from the nest site.

House dust might be a contributor to building air quality complaints if the dust has high levels of problem particles such as mold dust mite fecals pollen sub micron particulate debris bacterial contaminants pet hair mouse dander or fecal dust and similar particles. If this material is pushed through cracks where the window frame meets the wall or along the trim board and door frames this is a sign of a subterranean termite. Air entering the building through holes and cracks will leave dirt and dust on walls where there is exfiltration and on the insulation that covers those leaks. I looked up and found dozens of perfectly round 3 8 holes caused by borer bees aka carpenter bees that drill into the cedar in order to lay their eggs and nourish the larvae.

Look for holes on all the surfaces even the ones that aren t obvious easily visible. Entomologists call the sawdust created by insects frass. Look at your eaves door jam and possibly siding anything wood really around where the dust is accumulating. For this reason subterranean termites build mud tubes along the surface of the object they feed on to insulate themselves from the dryer surrounding air.

Even if you have an excellent filtration system on your air handler the dust can be sucked in from places that don t get filtered and blown into your home usually leaving fine gray dust everywhere. You will note that mold growth is present on the air handler insulation on the metal surfaces of the blower assembly on refrigerant and condensate piping and even on the paper labeling on the blower cage. The home remedy for fiber glass dust exposure on the skin is to rinse the skin with cold water to get rid of fiberglass dust embedded on the skin surface. After that take a warm shower so that.

Dust your body with talcum powder before you start work with fiberglass. The most common ingredients in house dust in a healthy home are. Carpenter bees chew holes in dead wood to make their nests. When mold growth is on unpainted metal in an air handler it is most likely dining on organic dust and debris found on those surfaces.