CA BRANCH 3 UPDATED STUDY QUESTIONS AND
ANSWERS GRADED A+
✔✔Subterranean Termite - ✔✔Live underground; make tubes from saliva, soil, and bits
of chewed wood; cause most damage overall; colony up to 300,000 workers; adults will
swarm after the start of fall and spring rain; castes - soldiers, workers, reproductives,
✔✔True Powder Post Beetle - ✔✔Reddish, Dark brown, or black in color; Reduce
hardwoods to fine powder that is ejected from an exit holes; Prefer hardwoods; Will
reinfest if wood's moisture and starch content is high enough.
✔✔Lead Cable Borer - ✔✔Reddish to black; Prefer hardwoods, especially oak; They
will attack wine corks, newly painted houses, bore through lead and telephone cables,
and asphalt roofing tiles; Will reinfest.
✔✔Black Polycaon - ✔✔Dark Brown to black; Will infest any wood; Prefer softwoods
and new construction materials; Will attack cabinets, furniture, dead or living trees, and
especially plywood; Will not reinfest.
✔✔Roundheaded Borer - ✔✔Grayish Brown; Extremely long segmented antenna;
Infests structural wood products; noticeable exit holes; larvae cause most damage; Will
not reinfest.
✔✔Deathwatch Beetle - ✔✔Dark grayish brown; Make a tapping sound as a mating
signal; Only eat hardwood that has been attacked by fungi; Will attack furniture and
book; Will reinfest structures.
✔✔Long Horned Borer - ✔✔Dark brown; Very long antennae; Will infest standing
weakened or diseased trees and newly felled lumber; Will infest hardwoods or
softwoods; larvae do most of the damage; Will not reinfest.
✔✔Old House Borer - ✔✔Brownish to blackish; Causes great structural damage and
spreads fairly rapidly; Eat softwoods; Can be found in old or new housing; Will reinfest.
✔✔New House Borer - ✔✔Grayish black; Breeds in dead or dying trees, especially
trees devastated by fires; Will infest houses newly made from lumber from dead or
dying trees, but once the wood is dry, it's not suitable; Will not reinfest.
✔✔How often must a full inspection and report be completed and filed on a property
covered by a control service agreement? - ✔✔At least once every three years.
✔✔When do you recommend to repair a stall shower? - ✔✔If it is found to leak when
water tested for a minimum of fifteen minutes after the shower drain has been plugged
and the base filled to within one inch of the top of the shower dam.
, ✔✔What is the minimum number of minutes that you must water test a stall shower with
no dam? - ✔✔5 minutes
✔✔Are you required to water test a second floor stall shower? - ✔✔No. However, if
water stains are evident on the ceiling below the shower, the recommendation should
be made for further inspection and testing.
✔✔What is the recommendation for cellulose debris? - ✔✔Remove.
✔✔What Family of beetles do the roundheaded borers belong too? - ✔✔Cerambycidae
✔✔What Family of beetles do the flatheaded borers belong too? - ✔✔Buprestidae
✔✔What Family of beetles do the wharf borers belong too? - ✔✔Oedemeridae
✔✔What Family of beetles do the wood weevils belong too? - ✔✔Curculionidae
✔✔What Family of beetles do the bark beetles belong too? - ✔✔Scolytidae
✔✔What are the identifying features of a beetle in the Cerambycidae family? -
✔✔These are the 'longhorn' beetles.
Roundheaded Borer, New House Borer, Old House Borer, Flat oak borer, etc.
Like the Bostrichid family of beetles, most only attack dying trees, logs, and unseasoned
wood, except the Old House Borer and the Flat Oak Borer, which will attack buildings.
Seasoned wood is often too dry.
Most wood-boring beetles will be brought into the home in firewood.
Trees killed by forest fire often become infected by beetles before the Timber
companies can harvest them.
The New House Borer is found in the western states and attacks softwoods (conifers)
before the bark is removed. It will emerge later from wood once it has been used in a
building. Killed by fumigation. Will not reinfest.
The Old House Borer is found in the eastern states also only attacks softwoods
(conifers), however it attacks seasoned softwoods in existing buildings. Will reinfest.
The Flat Oak Borer is found only in the Eastern states attacks dry, seasoned oak and
hickory in existing building. Will reinfest.
ANSWERS GRADED A+
✔✔Subterranean Termite - ✔✔Live underground; make tubes from saliva, soil, and bits
of chewed wood; cause most damage overall; colony up to 300,000 workers; adults will
swarm after the start of fall and spring rain; castes - soldiers, workers, reproductives,
✔✔True Powder Post Beetle - ✔✔Reddish, Dark brown, or black in color; Reduce
hardwoods to fine powder that is ejected from an exit holes; Prefer hardwoods; Will
reinfest if wood's moisture and starch content is high enough.
✔✔Lead Cable Borer - ✔✔Reddish to black; Prefer hardwoods, especially oak; They
will attack wine corks, newly painted houses, bore through lead and telephone cables,
and asphalt roofing tiles; Will reinfest.
✔✔Black Polycaon - ✔✔Dark Brown to black; Will infest any wood; Prefer softwoods
and new construction materials; Will attack cabinets, furniture, dead or living trees, and
especially plywood; Will not reinfest.
✔✔Roundheaded Borer - ✔✔Grayish Brown; Extremely long segmented antenna;
Infests structural wood products; noticeable exit holes; larvae cause most damage; Will
not reinfest.
✔✔Deathwatch Beetle - ✔✔Dark grayish brown; Make a tapping sound as a mating
signal; Only eat hardwood that has been attacked by fungi; Will attack furniture and
book; Will reinfest structures.
✔✔Long Horned Borer - ✔✔Dark brown; Very long antennae; Will infest standing
weakened or diseased trees and newly felled lumber; Will infest hardwoods or
softwoods; larvae do most of the damage; Will not reinfest.
✔✔Old House Borer - ✔✔Brownish to blackish; Causes great structural damage and
spreads fairly rapidly; Eat softwoods; Can be found in old or new housing; Will reinfest.
✔✔New House Borer - ✔✔Grayish black; Breeds in dead or dying trees, especially
trees devastated by fires; Will infest houses newly made from lumber from dead or
dying trees, but once the wood is dry, it's not suitable; Will not reinfest.
✔✔How often must a full inspection and report be completed and filed on a property
covered by a control service agreement? - ✔✔At least once every three years.
✔✔When do you recommend to repair a stall shower? - ✔✔If it is found to leak when
water tested for a minimum of fifteen minutes after the shower drain has been plugged
and the base filled to within one inch of the top of the shower dam.
, ✔✔What is the minimum number of minutes that you must water test a stall shower with
no dam? - ✔✔5 minutes
✔✔Are you required to water test a second floor stall shower? - ✔✔No. However, if
water stains are evident on the ceiling below the shower, the recommendation should
be made for further inspection and testing.
✔✔What is the recommendation for cellulose debris? - ✔✔Remove.
✔✔What Family of beetles do the roundheaded borers belong too? - ✔✔Cerambycidae
✔✔What Family of beetles do the flatheaded borers belong too? - ✔✔Buprestidae
✔✔What Family of beetles do the wharf borers belong too? - ✔✔Oedemeridae
✔✔What Family of beetles do the wood weevils belong too? - ✔✔Curculionidae
✔✔What Family of beetles do the bark beetles belong too? - ✔✔Scolytidae
✔✔What are the identifying features of a beetle in the Cerambycidae family? -
✔✔These are the 'longhorn' beetles.
Roundheaded Borer, New House Borer, Old House Borer, Flat oak borer, etc.
Like the Bostrichid family of beetles, most only attack dying trees, logs, and unseasoned
wood, except the Old House Borer and the Flat Oak Borer, which will attack buildings.
Seasoned wood is often too dry.
Most wood-boring beetles will be brought into the home in firewood.
Trees killed by forest fire often become infected by beetles before the Timber
companies can harvest them.
The New House Borer is found in the western states and attacks softwoods (conifers)
before the bark is removed. It will emerge later from wood once it has been used in a
building. Killed by fumigation. Will not reinfest.
The Old House Borer is found in the eastern states also only attacks softwoods
(conifers), however it attacks seasoned softwoods in existing buildings. Will reinfest.
The Flat Oak Borer is found only in the Eastern states attacks dry, seasoned oak and
hickory in existing building. Will reinfest.
