Woodworm in 2 year old Oak Furnature

Aeropars_

I know what the process is. I have to submit an online support ticket and supply photos. I'm at work at the moment so intend to do this when I get home tonight however I'm almost certain they will say the woodworm must have come from my home.

J_B

I (perhaps wrongly?) thought that all wood nowadays came 'treated' against such things?

sheramber

http://www.rentokil.co.uk/blog/detecting-woodworm/

Female furniture beetles will only lay eggs in wood where they think their larvae stand the best chance of pupating into adult insects. They tend to choose hardwoods with moisture contents of 28% or higher. The average moisture content in a house is nearer 10%, depending where it is. When the larvae hatch out it takes them between two and five years to chew enough nutrients from the timber to invest enough energy to pupate into adult beetles. All the while, the timber may be drying so they larvae can withstand those conditions and can be found living in timber down to 16-18% moisture content. It gets harder for them to feed as the timber gets drier and tougher and the resulting adult beetles will be smaller and less likely to produce offspring, so a female must choose a low risk place to lay her eggs.

[Deleted User]

Aeropars_ wrote: »

I'm almost certain they will say the woodworm must have come from my home.

I agree.
That's why you'll doubtless need an independent report if you want any hope of progressing further..

Aeropars_

Thanks for that.

I had read that article but totally missed the line about the timeframe. I placed the order on 1st February 2015 so we are talking almost 2 years to the day.

Given the facts I think its clear that this was infested BEFORE it arrived at my home.

Aeropars_

I thought the same so it will be interesting to see their response.

I have submitted a case to them so will update you all on how it progresses.

Thanks to you guys I am now confident the furniture was infested before it arrived at my house.

Fosterdog

You can't be certain though, the eggs hatch after just a few weeks so if you first noticed the problem about a year ago then it could have been infected as late as a year and a few weeks ago. Or it could be as you think that the eggs were laid before you got the table and either hatched not long after or perhaps already had larvae eating away at it but not on the surface so it took you a year to notice. Just one or two larvae would probably take a while to cause enough damage for you to notice but dozens would cause the damage a lot quicker.

It must still be relatively humid where they are for the wood to still be edible to them.

You said you bought £2000 of furniture was this just a dining table or other bits as well? If others what condition are they in? Any signs of infestation?

Aeropars_

Wow... I'm impressed! Logged the support ticket online this morning and had a call back by 12:30PM!

They didn't even put up a fight and offered outright to replace the items or give me £225 compensation and send out a repair kit for use after treatment with a readily available woodworm treatment. The guy I spoke to wasn't surprised by the issue but was very pleasant and understanding.

My conundrum now is whether to take the money or as for more given the risk of possible spread to other items of furniture. I really don't want to have to replace the affected items given they are all equally worn in and match well.

[Deleted User]

Aeropars_ wrote: »

My conundrum now is whether to take the money or as for more

Sounds like goodwill rather than any admission of liability.

Ask for more money and they will almost certainly require the independent report I alluded to earlier.

Your choice.

Aeropars_

Well I've settled on it with them:

£300 refund for the sideboard which is infested, 2 replacement table legs and 2 wax kits for refinishing the sideboard after i treat it.

I confirmed with them that should the problem get worse that they would still help with the situation to which they say "yes" in no uncertain terms.

They told me that they guarantee against woodworm for 10 years and that this is a minority case (apx 2.5% of all sales) which, in all honesty, I expect it would be.

For all the negative reviews I have seen regarding their customer service I have to say my experience has been very positive. I fully expected a battle to get the issue sorted when i first started the process.