Woodworm - Furniture beetle

[Polstar]

I have just bought a house and there appears to be a small amount of woodworm holes in the loft bedroom floor. the company we instructed to do a damp and woodwork survey say that there is a small / medium scattered infestation throughout the whole house but when we took up ALL the carpets (at their request) we could not find any other signs of woodworm - only in this one spot in the loft bedroom. They are now saying that they need to treat the whole house at a cost of around £1000! can they just treat the area where there is evidence of the woodworm? i cannot see any evidence any where else in the house - and to my un trained eye the evidence in the loft bedroom looks historic anyway. Do they need to treat the whole house or can they just treat the area with holes?

Thanks

Eddy

 

[AronSearle]

Sound like a bunch of cowboys (as most of them are), very likely historical damage.

Usefull link http://www.buildingconservation.com/articles/woodworm/woodworm.htm

They only really attack sapwood, or wet and decaying timber.

 

[Polstar]

Thanks for the response,

I have invited a building surveyor who does not carry out any remedial works to guve me a second opinion.

Reading through the articles previously mentioned and the one posted by AronSearle, it seems to me that it is unlikely that i need any form of treatment as there is central heating (and has een for many years) and adequate ventilation throughout the property and sub floor area.

Eddy

 

[Burnerman]

Believe it or not, the furniture beetle can be unwillingly introduced to a building courtesy of antique furniture being brought in ( don't ask me how I know )
So, the plan is to see if the holes are recent or historic. Block every hole with some sort of filler, and see if more occur.
The exiting beetle flies towards light and can land on a window sill, so look there.
Flood the infected timber with preservative, and worry ye not.....any treatment firm will shout bingo when they are contacted - it's how they make money!
John

 

[Dave54]

As John says it's often introduced with antique furniture. . .
Do as he says, and don't worry.

 

[Polstar]

so what you are all saying is that no matter what the company says - however they justify the need to fully treat the whole of my house, i should tell them to sling their hook!!!
Some of the holes look fairly new. some are on one of the stair stringers but there are no holes on the stair treads or risers and there are no holes on the opposite stringer. The areas where there are holes look to be a different generation of timber from the treads and risers - maybe this suggesrts it is historical?

Thanks everyone

Eddy

 

[AronSearle]

The only benefit to getting them to treat the timbers rather than doing it yourself, is they will provide a guarantee for the works.

Of course this guarantee will be filled with clauses and sub clauses, and on the lottery winning chances it is actually worth more than the paper it is written on, they will probably not exist when you come to claim on the guarantee.

 

[Polstar]

AronSearle,

would i just need to treat the areas where i see exit holes - or the whole lot - as per what Damp Stop are telling me? They want to spray the topside of the floor boards AND the underside (not sure how they think they can do this without removing ceilings below).

Eddy

 

[AronSearle]

Well, I wouldn’t bother doing anything.

If there is a need to treat, then you need to treat all exposed surfaces. The treatment will not soak into the wood, just superficially into the surface. It kills them as they emerge or kills eggs being laid on the surface. Whether you should treat hidden surfaces depends on how likely it is that insects will attack those surfaces. There is no special trick or chemical that they are using, it’s just insecticidal treatment sprayed onto the timbers.

It is extremely rare for them to attack dry timber, and if you have wet decaying timber, then that’s an issue itself anyway.

In old properties they will *always* find evidence of woodworm, If these companies are to be believed, then the vast majority of untreated timbers in UK housing stock should be falling away from insect damage, but they are not.

 

[gregers]

1k and not lifting any floorboards,oooo they sound top notch dont they.
if that is all there going to do,then i would obtain some woodworm fluid and do it all yourself.