A woman is sounding the alarm on retail stores that sell wood furniture after she claims a decorative wood ladder she brought into her home was infested with powderpost beetles.
“This is just a warning for anybody that shops at HomeGoods or Hobby Lobby to check all of the wood furniture or just clean items that you buy from there,” Madison Ours (@oursmadison) says in her TikTok.
Ours says she noticed a “fine powder all over” her new ladder. At first, she says she figured it was from the “house settling.”
“It’s like coming from the ceiling and landing on the ladder,” she recalls assuming. “So I have cleaned it weekly for four months.”
A telltale sign that the powder was not coming from the ceiling, however, was its presence on the third step, Ours says.
“I looked a little bit closer, and I see bugs all over this thing,” she says. “And upon further investigation, they’re called powderpost beetles, which is kind of like a termite. They eat wood. And I immediately lifted this thing and threw it out my front door. And I don’t know if you can see it, but there are literal piles of bugs when I lifted this thing.”
To make matters worse, she says the fireplace the ladder was resting on is wooden.
“So now I’m freaking out,” she says. She then shows a clip of a small beetle on the ladder. There are a few tiny holes in the wood.
“This makes me sick to my stomach to rewatch, but make sure you’re checking your stuff from HomeGoods and Hobby Lobby,” she concludes.
What are powderpost beetles?
According to the University of Kentucky, powderpost beetles are insects that are smaller than 1 inch and feast on wood. The way they enter homes is by flying in or by being brought in through infested wood items, like furniture.
Once in your home, powderpost beetles have the ability to wreak havoc by damaging the home’s wooden framing, furniture, and hardwood floors, according to Gregory Pest Solutions.
A dead giveaway that one is dealing with a powderpost beetle infestation is flour-like powder around damaged wood. The wood may have tiny holes in it, like the ones featured in Ours’ video.
How do you get rid of them?
Gregory Pest Solutions recommends fumigation to treat a powderpost beetle infestation. Insecticides or extreme temperatures may also be effective solutions.
“Similar to bedbugs, you can heat the item or affected area to 120 to 140 degrees for 24 hours. Extreme cold also works, but you’ll need to treat the items to a subzero environment for up to one week,” the Greenville, South Carolina pest control company notes.
‘Another thing to be worried about’
Ours’ video has been viewed 1 million times. While Ours doesn’t outright confirm where she purchased the ladder in the clip, viewers took her mention of HomeGoods and Hobby Lobby to mean it came from one of those stores.
“You need to keep it and file a report with Home Goods and possibly file a lawsuit against them because if it gets into your home’s structure it’ll cause major problems,” one viewer said.
“Girl please get your whole home professionally treated,” another recommended.
Viewers feel mentally drained by this newfound knowledge.
“Great. Another thing to be worried about lol,” one said.
“I’m so exhausted by every single facet of life rn omg,” another wrote.
Ours’ video helped at least one person discover the presence of powderpost beetles in their own home.
“Thank you for saving me! I’ve had a blanket ladder that does this for over a year. I just found the holes and bugs and immediately threw it out!” they shared.
@oursmadison CHECK YOUR WOOD DECOR!!!! #powderpostbeetles #hobbylobby #homegoods #bugs #fyp ♬ original sound – MadisonOurs
The Daily Dot reached out to Ours via Instagram direct message. The Daily Dot also reached out to HomeGoods via email and to Hobby Lobby via media contact form.
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