Buying a house with Woodworm

NWOIHTS

Hi

Recently been looking about for my first pad, and where I live rarely do houses with what I want (Nice area rural etc.) come up in a comfortable price range, however recently just seen a semi-detached house came on the market in a perfect area so I went and see in it.

House is occupied by an elderly widow who is looking to move into assisted living and so is selling up. The house is approx. 60 years old, and inside and out seem perfectly ok, only real gripes, if you are my Mother that is lol, is that the interior is a bit old fashioned and needs modernised.

So after viewing I decided to sit down and read the home report, and mostly minor imperfection were noted throughout, like hairline cracks in plaster etc., nothing untoward until I got to the bit that said:

There is woodworm infestation to joinery within roof space areas and there is a risk that further infestation exists in concealed areas of the building. Ideally woodworm infestation should be treated using guaranteed methods.

This woodworm is listed under category 2, which is defined as:

Repairs or replacement requiring
future attention, but estimates are
still advised.

Now I am no timber expert but is this something to avoid at all costs? It's a real shame as the house is ideal for what I am looking for, and everything else seems sound, I was even up the loft and despite this woodworm the timbers looked dry - I understand they like damp timber.

Sholud the seller not get a timber report to check if it is elsewhere and how much it would cost to treat, or even get it treated, before putting it on the market.

Or should I just jog on?

What do you think?

Thanks

Andrew

ConfusedofYorkshire

i am buying a house with woodworm. the survey said there were signs of an infestation but that we should get it investigated to see if it was live.

it turned out it is live- a rough guess of within the last 12 years and it was an "extensive infestation". Despite this, the wood was not damaged enough to need replacing and the treatment involves removing all of the insulation and spraying the timber. it takes about a day and the cost is about £700.

we had to pay for the timber specialist. you can either get an independent one who has no vested interest in saying that there is a problem, or you can get one linked to a company. the surveyor recommended getting one that was PCA approved. with the latter option you normally the survey fee refunded if work needs to be done if you use them to treat it.

also- the timber specialist checked the floorboards and confirmed that it was confined to the roof. if the floors were riddled we may have thought again but the roof was sound so it wasn't a big deal really.

G_M

Two issues

1) is the 'infestation' live or historic? Chances are the surveyor saw the little holes in the wood, and so wrote his report. Well, the 'infestation' may have been 50 odd years ago, the worm long gone. But the holes don't magically heal themselves!

These bugs don't like dry wood. Soft damp wood in the garden is much more attractive, but typically fresh timber in a newly built house can be vulnerable till it fully 'matures'. Hence the holes.

Of course, if the house has got damp (leaking roof?) then over time the wood will soften and become attractive to them again.

Hence my Q - is it active or live woodworm?

2) If there is extensive, live worm (or indeed extensive historic worm) then there is always the possibility of serious damage to timber (even structural timber). But it takes a long long long time for worm to damage wood to the extent that it becomes unsafe and/or must be replaced.

Yes, it's possible in an old house, poorly maintained over many years, for this to happen, but it's rare.

If in doubt, get in an expert, but also bear in mind that a wood treatment firm, looking for a contract, may just point out the holes as evidence and recommend treatment.......

Finally, in 99 cases out of 100, you can treat wood that has live worm, and get a 20 year guarantee. As I said, structural wood damage requiring timber replacement is rare.

http://www.askjeff.co.uk/woodworm-the-hole-in-the-argument/

NWOIHTS

G_M wrote: »

Two issues

1) is the 'infestation' live or historic? Chances are the surveyor saw the little holes in the wood, and so wrote his report. Well, the 'infestation' may have been 50 odd years ago, the worm long gone. But the holes don't magically heal themselves!

These bugs don't like dry wood. Soft damp wood in the garden is much more attractive, but typically fresh timber in a newly built house can be vulnerable till it fully 'matures'. Hence the holes.

Of course, if the house has got damp (leaking roof?) then over time the wood will soften and become attractive to them again.

Hence my Q - is it active or live woodworm?

2) If there is extensive, live worm (or indeed extensive historic worm) then there is always the possibility of serious damage to timber (even structural timber). But it takes a long long long time for worm to damage wood to the extent that it becomes unsafe and/or must be replaced.

Yes, it's possible in an old house, poorly maintained over many years, for this to happen, but it's rare.

If in doubt, get in an expert, but also bear in mind that a wood treatment firm, looking for a contract, may just point out the holes as evidence and recommend treatment.......

Finally, in 99 cases out of 100, you can treat wood that has live worm, and get a 20 year guarantee. As I said, structural wood damage requiring timber replacement is rare.

http://www.askjeff.co.uk/woodworm-the-hole-in-the-argument/

In all honesty I do not know if it is live or historic, it would seem from reading it that the surveyor is saying there is an infestation, which I would read as live.

When I spoke to the agent he said it is rarely a big problem nowadays and is most likely historic. However a timber specialist check would be appropriate I would think to allay the fears of any buyers.

ConfusedofYorkshire

i think the likelihood is that you would have to pay for the timber report. i did. vendors rarely pick up the tab for surveys. we paid for an electrical report and timber survey.
however, i used the evidence to get the price of the house down.

phoebe1989seb

Bear in mind that some surveyors are prone to erring on the side of caution (or exaggeration imho!) - when we sold our last house in 2011 (a Tudor building with later additions) our buyers' surveyor recorded a 'woodworm infestation' in the walk-in eaves storage areas. Our buyers arranged to meet with us in order to discuss various points highlighted in the survey and accompanied by us investigated said areas......three (historic) holes were found

Our current house (200+ years old) has extensive woodworm holes in the exposed beams/other timbers. These were treated by the PO but as he did the work himself we have no guarantees. We just see it as something to be expected with an older, character property......

NWOIHTS

I have just emailed the home report surveyor to ask for more info on this so hopefully he'll get back in a few days. I do know that usually these inspectors will note most things down as a precaution to avoid being held liable later on, so yeah it could be something not of concern but as you say it's probably wise to get a survey anyway in due course.

Thanks

Andrew

ian103

the house we recently purchased had woodworm in the past and it was treated by previous owner, the holes were duly noted, the owner then announced that they had had it treated and sent the necessary paperwork. We checked and the company who had treated the property had ceased trading so I made my own investigations - it was a modest fee for a report and a relatively low cost in the scheme of the works we were undertaking to treat the whole bungalow. Fortunately the PO had procured an insurance backed guarantee at the time, so we didn't need and work doing. However given the low costs involved it wouldn't have been an issue.

ConfusedofYorkshire

Agree with Ian. The first thing to do is to find out whether the vendor has any paperwork Onslow it's been treated and guaranteed.

My vendor knew nothing about it and had lived there for 40 years so there was a good chance it was live. And it was!

poppasmurf_bewdley

I live in a property that used to be a stable, built in the 1700's, and all the beams in the property have extensive signs of woodworm. Of course, the property was treated when it was converted in 1992 and I've never seen a single sign of anything returning.

I'm sure there's nothing to worry about if the place is treated properly.

Owain_Moneysaver

A lot of woodworm died out in the 60s and 70s when central heating was installed and buildings got warmer and drier. So any infestation may well be historic. However, even if there is no current beetle infestation, the timbers may still be damaged and structurally weakened.