What is eating my utility room? Woodlice? (With pics)

[QuimReaper]

Sorry, not sure where to put this. The last few weeks, there is a constant residue over a counter in my utility room, it gathers at incredible pace (this is since last night) and is driving me nuts. I think some kind of insect is eating the wall above it - there is an ancient boiler there (a relic from former owners) and it doesn't seem to be happening anywhere else, so perhaps there's some kind of material just on that wall that they're feasting on.

I found a couple of what look like woodlouse shells (pictured), is it woodlice? Any idea how I can stop them?

Thanks!

Bumping for the later crowd!

They're woodlice, I'd see if you can catch them and put them outside. They live on decaying leaves and the like and will eat wood, if it's rotting.

Yes woodlice eat rotting, damp wood. So if the wall is wood framed, it is likely damp and rotting. You often see this issue in timber framed homes or older homes on post foundations.

Thanks - can they be fumigated or anything? There must be an absolute plague of them to be causing this much damage, I don't think putting individual bugs outside is going to make much difference!

They’re not really causing the damage, the damage is you have a water intrusion or a leak causing a damp wall with rotting wood in it. Woodlice are simply cleaning it up. Better them than mould.

The way to fix it is to fix the cause of the damp and replace the rotting wood with fresh dry wood. Then the wood lice won’t come around anymore.

Keep the woodlice. The alternative is black mould. The real solution is to get rid of the old boiler and the rotten wood surrounding it.

As others have said, woodlice only go for rotting wood - you need to look at where the rot is a fox that before it becomes an issue

If there’s woodlice, there’s damp somewhere. So rather than fumigate the woodlice, you need to figure out where water is getting in.

can they be fumigated or anything?
They're harmless. It's just a bit of dust!