My wife and I are building a new house, and we want some old barnwood to be used for decorative beams, to give the old rafter look and also for covering the ceiling in place of gypsum board. We have found a great stock of barn wood from a barn built in 1952. The wood looks great, but the outside of SOME of these beams have holes that look suspiciously like termite holes. The holes look old and dry and the wood looks solid. I attempted to scrape away some of the wood to look below, and there is no spongy texture and the wood is not brittle.

My questions are thus:

1) How can we be sure there is no active infestation?

2) How can we treat the wood if it appears to be an active infestation?

3) How can we treat the wood to prevent further infestation? (I am assuming Boric Acid here(Borate))

Thanks!