White Powder on Roof Beams

[Kaine Fothergill]

Just bought a home and went up in the attic today to find a white Powder on quite a few of the beams. One is particularly bad. Had a full building survey which never mentioned it. Can anyone indentify what it is and what's my best course of action. We are first time buyers so DIY would be preferable to an expensive expert.

 

[Bob49]

Hi,

See the following:

https://www.diynot.com/diy/threads/roof-timber-white-powder.6029/

and

https://www.diynot.com/diy/threads/roof-rafters-white-spot-mould.458710/

 

[bobasd]

the whits stuff is white spot mould an its harmless - just provide a little more loft ventilation.

 

[Kaine Fothergill]

Hi Bob. Thanks for your reply. The would seems to be breaking away around where the deposits are. You can see this in photos one and two. Would you still think it is just condensation ?

 

[bobasd]

sorry about that - i replied to the wrong thread. good job you pulled me on it.

what you have is a beetle infestation - the posh name for these bugs in damp & timber reports is anobium punctatum. probly spelt wrong.
you might also have some kind of wood rot.
probe the rafters an the purlins an ceiling joists with a small screwdriver.
the infestation looks to be active but you'l soon tell by opening the timber up.
come back after examining an probing an i'll suggest what you could do next.

 

[Kaine Fothergill]

The wood on the worst beam breaks free with ease like I could scrape through the beam. On the same beam the white powder seems to be erupting from the beam like forcing it's way out. There are small boring holes in the wood but my surveyor said these were no longer active .

 

[bobasd]

from the photo, the bugs still seem to be active - thatt stuff they push out is called frass an your frass is light colored an fresh lookin.
keep probing an diggin to see any little movin bugs.

what you can do is remove one rafter at a time an replace with a new treated rafter at a time - but that could be a difficult bit of work for DIY'ers.

or you could treat the damaged rafters by drillin holes an soaking with anti-beetle chemicals.

you could then strengthen the damaged rafters by sistering new lengths of treated rafters alongside the damaged rafters.
you wouldn't probly need full length sistering.

RICS Surveyors typicly gouge out chunks of wood to see if the bugs are active - i dont see any gouge marks in the photos?

lay some boards on the floor joists for walking on etc. eg lengths of chipboard floorin

 

[Kaine Fothergill]

Morning. I've not had time to have a look for any beetles. However there were definately no gouge marks from surveyor, he thought they were not active but the attic did need better ventilation.
Do you think it's worth ordering two lots of this? https://www.permagard.co.uk/insecti...iZLevkExjXdair6oDKEyiYtMNUGwY7pcaAvqxEALw_wcB

 

[bobasd]

any of the beetle insecticides will do the job.
i dont now how many metres of timber you'l have to treat.

 

[Kaine Fothergill]

Just been up to the attic and had a scrape, can't find any bugs knocking about. It only seems to be one rafter. The damage to that one seems relatively bad. I scraped away wood which was pure powder in a 8cm by 3cm hole about 5mm deep. There are about four more of these eruptions. Do you think it's worth replacing or just treat it?

 

[datarebal]

Its rare to see a roof without any type insect attack. treat it.