Woodworm

[mylittlehouse]

Hello all
Little help please

I am buying a Victorian house and there is some damp in the ground floor wall as the next door has breeched the damp course with a drive way.

They have said they will fix this asap to correct the problem.

The survey said there were signs of wood boarding in the park of the carpet he lifted

How do i treat or know if i have a problem that needs to be treated.
One surveyor told me that if you cure the damp the woodworm will die is this true?

 

[gregers]

lol thats a new 1 on me,
no if you have woodworm? then contact a timber preservation firm to carry out a survey,and they can then inform you on what needs doing.
iirc if this is for the morgage then they will probably want a suitable firm to carry out the work,if its just for yourself (peace of mind)then you could do the job yourself.by obtaining the correct fluid and equipment from a higher shop.

 

[mointainwalker]

Gregers

I have often read that woodworm cannot live in dry wood and therefore cannot infest a modern , dry, centrally-heated house .

Seen from that aspect, the surveyor is probably right that solving the damp will in the medium-term get rid of the ww.

 

[gregers]

Gregers

I have often read that woodworm cannot live in dry wood and therefore cannot infest a modern , dry, centrally-heated house .

Seen from that aspect, the surveyor is probably right that solving the damp will in the medium-term get rid of the ww.

thats crap from my experiance.

considering woodworm has a life cycle that can take from 2 years up to 5 years depending on species.so even if you dry out your timbers you will still have problems lurking and once established will continue eating merrily away.

http://www.wisepropertycare.com/com...utions/woodworm-treatment/woodworm-lifecycle/

 

[ladylola]

I've heard the theory about dry wood and woodworm and must admit to being very skeptical. It supposes that ALL the timber in a building will dry out to such an extent that it's unpaletable to woodworm. Whilist it may have some basic in truth who actually has central heating in the roof and floor spaces? These areas will remain with enough moisture for the little beggars to thrive.
A lot of my work is in historic buildings and this theory is often applied, some of the stuff we've put back in has been absolutely riddled with worm but not treated in any way.
Other ideas used for example include introducing spiders such as was done at the Bodlien Libary in Oxford. These are supposed to eat the beetles as they emerge and thus solve the problem of reinfestation.
Result remain to be seen.