Timber and Pallet Fumigation

What gets treated

Sawn and dressed timber in store, packing cases and crates, wooden pallets both new and returned, dunnage, and timber components packed with machinery. Furniture stock and joinery held in a warehouse fall into the same category when borer activity shows up in them.

The give-away is usually fine powder below the wood and small round exit holes in the surface. Those holes are where an adult beetle left, which means the generation before it has already been living inside the timber for some time.

How the treatment works

The timber is stacked, sheeted and sealed, and the gas moves into the wood to reach larvae and adults in the galleries they have cut. This is the difference that matters for wood: a surface coating protects a face against future attack, while fumigation deals with what is already inside the piece.

Stacking matters more here than with bagged goods. Timber packed tightly with no air gaps slows the gas down, so the stack is built or adjusted for the treatment rather than treated exactly as it was found.

Safety and access

The sheeted stack is placarded and the surrounding zone is kept clear of people for the whole exposure period. Timber yards are working sites with forklifts moving, so the isolation zone is agreed with your yard supervisor and marked physically, not just described.

The stack is released after ventilation, and the timber is aired before it is handled or moved into an enclosed space.

How long it takes

Building and sealing the stack is the slower part of the job with timber. Exposure follows and then ventilation. Dense hardwood and thick sections take longer than light packaging timber, and a tightly built stack takes longer than a well spaced one. We confirm the schedule once we have seen how the timber is stored.

What you receive

A written record of what was treated, the quantity and description of the timber, where it was stacked, the exposure period and the ventilation. If the timber is destined for export packaging and your buyer requires a specific document, tell us what it must contain before the work is booked.

What you need to prepare

Tell us the species and dimensions if you know them, the quantity, and where the stack will stand. Give us space around the stack so the sheeting can be sealed to the ground properly, and keep the yard traffic away from that area for the duration.