Do I have wood worm ?

[MoonMan2]

When inspecting the wooden beam below my patio, I noticed the wood looked rotted at the far end. With my fingers I was able to pull out the rotten bits of wood. It was like saw dust and I saw two or three dead encrusted larvae.

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• MoonMan2
• 30 Jun 2014
• 1

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• MoonMan2
• 30 Jun 2014
• 1

I cleaned the space out as best as I could, and was attacked by about 20 ants. I could see no small holes which would indicate woodworm.

On the opposite side of the patio, it looks like this. (I have put white powder down to deal with the ants - have had this issue for several years, it doesn't bother me that much). There are no small holes here either, just some small 'black bits' and a couple of dead ants (I think).

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• MoonMan2
• 30 Jun 2014
• 1

I took a photo of underneath the floor where this outside rotten bit would be. (ie directly below what u see above. I have a hatch in neighbouring kitchen, so was able to manipulate camera)

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• MoonMan2
• 30 Jun 2014
• 1

There appears to be no sign of infestation.

I looked around the house and found about 15 small beetles all at various window sills around the house. Most were dead, but maybe 4 or 5 were still alive. The place where I found the most was in the upstairs 'dry room'. I call it the 'dry room' as the window is always open to allow the clothes to dry quicker.

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• MoonMan2
• 30 Jun 2014
• 1

It is worth noting that in the guest room, next door there was no beetles at all on the window edge - that window is always kept closed.

On closer inspection of the markings on the back of the insects

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• MoonMan2
• 30 Jun 2014
• 1

I noticed that there is blue horizontal lines across their backs. That doesn't seem to match the markings of any woodworm beetles.

I live in Glasgow. Should I worry about this? Should I just wood fill the rotten gap in the patio? Should I put these beetles down to just insects flying in through the window at the start of summer?

OR

Should I be ripping up the floor boards and treating them - this would be an AWFUL lot of hassle.

 

[pinenot]

Don't see any evidence of woodworm holes, but I would suggest you phone your local environment dept. and ask if they can name that beetle. Alternatively if you could take a micro shot of one and post it? ...pinenot

 

[MoonMan2]

Thanks Pinenot, I called a few agencies, they said the small beetle was likely just a common house beetle. They described quite well for me, ie 2-3mm long and had wings. They said they tend to come if there are a lot of birds in the area.

Thanks for thinking it is unlikely to be a woodworm attack. I realised last night that the larvae I found were around 2-3 cm long, that is too big to be woodwarm larvae. Woodworm larvae are around 5mm, so I suspect it was some other caterpillar or something else I found.

Panic over, will spray some insecticide in gap anyway just to be sure then will woodfill it.

Thanks again.

 

[pinenot]

Your very welcome...pinenot