woodworm - is it active or an old infestation??

matt_boro

just bought an oldish wreck of a house...

there is an area of floorboards in the cupboard under the stairs that has been completely destroyed by woodworm.

how do i know if the woodworm is still active?? (ie - it may be elsewhere in the house, so whole house will need treating for it), or if it is just an old attack (so i can just replace the affected floorboards)

Im a bit wary of getting a woodworm treatment company out who i dont know or trust... as chances are they will just say "yeah the whole house needs spraying, thats £800 please mate"

Thanks in advance for any advice...

Matt

leveller2911

You could just buy some Cuprinol 5 star wood treatment and treat it yourself.I think im right in saying the small holes you see are the exit holes when they leave,so I .would guess they're old.

In the long run it would be a good idea to get it looked into as they can cause major damage.

olias

You can usually tell if it's active by small piles of sawdust on the floor below the affected wood. That said, I painted a beam which I was sure had no active infestation and several months later a number of small holes appeared where the blighters had tunnelled out (they had been hiding inside!)

Although it's a lot of money, the benefit of paying out for treatment (other than the obvious of getting rid of the blighters), is that when you come to sell you can wave a 15 year guarentee at the prospective buyers which should make any sale a lot easier

Olias

chiefgoobster

Not much else to add to the above replies apart from the following;

I had woodworm in my first house.Went and bought a big drum of woodworm killer from Wickes, got one of them garden sprayers, decent protective mask and gloves, old clothes and away I went. It's not hard, just somewhat time consuming (depends on area being covered !).If I remember rightly the liquid did tend to sting/itch a little if it got on your skin.It definately stains clothing so dig out those old " I'll keep them for painting one day" T shirts/trousers !

You could of course spray your joists then renew the affected floorboard area. If you do discover any woodworm at least get some back-dated rent off them !!

Good luck.

Careful_with_that_Axe

When I had an active infestation, there was evidence of sawdust from the holes they bored, but also dead mature woodworm flies in the affected areas.

I think if there is structural wood in the property, a belt and braces approach is by far the safest in my opinion. Good luck!