Woodworm in the floor!

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30 Mar 2011
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London
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United Kingdom
Hi all,

We own a smallish Edwardian purpose-built flat with mostly original wooden flooring.
Very annoyingly, when cleaning recently my girlfriend and I noticed extensive woodworm holes in some of the floorboards in the corridor.

The replacement or application of woodworm killer is complicated, though, by the fact the boards run underneath a newer, slate floor in the kitchen. Some of these boards run nearly the entire length of the corridor and under the front door into the communal hallway (where they're covered by carpet)

Given that we were planning to sand down and re-varnish this floor anyway, my plan is to:
  • Sand the floor down with a floor sander
    Then lift the smaller boards and treat them with woodworm killer outside
    Lift the large boards as much as possible and apply woodworm killer to as much of the joists as can be made accessible using a spray
    Re-fasten the boards once enough coats of woodworm killer have been applied
    Apply caulking to seal gaps between the boards
    Then varnish

My first question is, have i missed anything obvious? This seems like the right order to do things to me.
Because of the later, immovable floor in the kitchen i'm not going to be able to replace one of the affected boards as i'm fairly sure the appropriate joist to join on is actually under the slate tiled floor.

Also, the Cuprinol woodworm killer suggests to 'inject into the flightholes' in a large attack. What would i use to do this? Small plastic syringe? Would spraying it into the holes work?

Obviously my main concern is to stop them spreading to the joists. When the floor is up should i be thinking about applying some kind of barrier between the board and joist?

Finally, will a good coat of varnish help to prevent any re-infestation?

Thanks a lot for your help in advance![/list]
 
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Are they new worm holes or could they have been there for years and redundant?
 
Can't be 100% sure, but we're pretty certain that they've got worse in the time we've been here so I'm assuming it's active
 
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Woodworm leaves eggs in the holes in the summer and they hatch the following spring so if there was no dust visible last spring then it's probably not active. To be sure of 'curing' the problem you need to inject *each* hole with the woodworm killer, some types come in smaller sizes and in an 'oil type can' with a spout for this purpose.

Spraying is not a sure way to penetrate a hole. A wood varnish is better than an oil because the insects don't like the taste.

If there was no dust last spring then it suggests that there may not be a problem but no harm in taking precautions.
 

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