Construction Profiles of High Rise Caged Layer Houses in Association with Insulation Damage Caused by the Lesser Mealworm, Alphitobius diaperinus (Panzer) in Virginia

The relationship between types of contruction of high rise caged layer houses and insulation damage produced by the lesser mealworm, Alphitobius diaperinus (Panzer), was examined. There were no infestations in polyurethane insulation that had heavy weight paper glued to the surface of the insulation and installed with tape to seal off the seam between insulation boards. High rise houses with pit walls constructed of concrete block had lower insulation infestations than houses with wooden walls forming the pits. Houses that had pit wall foundations built of both types of materials had intermediate lesser mealworm infestations. Houses with the support structure set on top of the concrete block pit wall had lower infestations than houses where the support structure was set directly into the earth. There was a reduced gradient of damage with height of insulation above the pit; insulation installed in the pit was the most severely infested. Extruded polystyrene insulation exposed to 10 years or more of lesser mealworm infestation suffered a substantial loss of volume in the corner area of the insulation panels, resulting in a 9.1 to 30.8% reduction from an original volume of 84,838 cm3. Additionally, there was a significant reduction in R-value of infested insulation.