Insects

Before you spray anything, find out whether the powderpost beetles are still active, because most of what people panic over is old damage from beetles that left the wood years ago. An active infestation drops fresh, flour-fine frass that sifts out of round exit holes, and new holes keep appearing over time, so mark the

If you keep finding small beetles on the windowsill, the adults are not your problem. Carpet beetles are a larvae problem, and the larvae do not live out in the open. They feed in the quiet places where wool, lint, pet hair, and dead insects pile up, under furniture, along carpet edges, in closets, and

If you are fighting powderpost beetles, the treatment that actually works is a borate brushed into bare wood, not a can of bug spray. The larvae feed deep inside the wood for months or even years, which is why a surface insecticide never reaches them. A borate, meaning disodium octaborate, soaks into unsealed wood and

A carpet beetle trap is a sticky glue monitor, not a pheromone magnet like the traps made for moths, so it will not pull beetles in from across the house or end an infestation by itself. What it does well is catch the wandering larvae and adults so you can pinpoint which closet, baseboard, or

The best carpet beetle killer is not a spray at all, it is a vacuum, because the damage in your closet is done by the larvae, the little bristly woolly-bears hiding in the lint, not the adult beetles you see at the window. Those adults fly outdoors to feed on flower pollen, so spraying the

If you want to keep moths out of the pantry and closet, the trick is to stop their larvae from finding food and a quiet place to hide, because the larvae are what do the damage, not the fluttering adults. In the pantry, move dry goods into airtight glass or hard plastic, since cardboard boxes