Anobia

Karin von Lerber <prevart [at] access__ch> writes

>The wood of the building itself as well as of the museum objects is
>infested with anobia (wood boring  insects).

While I was working for Parks Canada they encountered an identical
problem: a historic log cabin that was severely infested with wood
worm, and all the furnishings had also become infested. The problem
was made more difficult by the fact that the building was located in
a small but very important wildlife protection area, through which a
large percentage of all North American bird species migrate each
year (therefor poisonous chemical pesticides were to be avoided).
The building was small enough that the use of a bubble enclosure was
considered, with the use of carbon dioxide, heat, and I believe some
sort of chemical strips used in the grain/food industry, followed by
the use of Tim-Bor. A further problem arose, however, as provincial
regulations apparently only allowed methyl bromide to be used with
this pest. I do not know all the details, and I do not know what the
final decision on treatment was. You would be best off contacting
Tom Mills at:

    Parks Canada
    Historic Resources Conservation Branch
    1800 Walkley Rd.
    K1A 0M5
    613-993-2125

as he was the conservator in charge of the project, or his superior
at that time, Martin Brooks <martin_brooks [at] pch__gc__ca>, at the same
address and telephone number. Refer to the DeLaurier House at Point
Pelee as the building that had the wood worm problem.

Valerie Tomlinson
Teknisk Konservator
Universitetet i Oslo
I.A.K.N.
Frederiksgate 3
0164 Oslo
Norway
+47 22 85 95 01

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 11:73
                 Distributed: Friday, February 27, 1998
                       Message Id: cdl-11-73-003
                                  ***