Wood worm in a stool, should I be worried about my home?

delmonta

Hi

I made a little stool about 6 years ago, and it mostly was in storage at my mums. I brought it here and it went in a cupboard in my loft bedroom. I took it out recently to use, and noticed it had little holes all over. Stupidly I just assumed it was old and probably no harm, so it's been in the living room for a few months now. Quite a bit of dust came out of these holes when I banged the stool on the floor

Today someone said I should get it out of the house, which seems pretty obvious now. I am a bit worried as it was in the same room as my piano and I have engineered hardwood floors

I have checked the cupboard it was in storage for the last few years, and I made these cupboards with untreated pine which apparently woodworm like, but there are no holes in this. I also can't see any holes in the floorboards where the stool sat the last few months

I am happy to throw out the stool, but just worried about potential infestations, mostly in the piano (its lacquered thick all over, Yamaha...but the underside is not, and I can't see the bottom obviously as its so heavy)

Any thoughts? Is it possible this is some old infestation, is there a way to check? Or any advice on what to do 

thanks very much

twopenny

I think you've done a good job of checking. I doubt you would get them in the piano or floors with the hardness of the wood and no damp.
You can check an item for active woodworm by using wax polish to fill the holes and if any new ones they will show up. Might be worth doing that to the stool and keeping it out of the house. They start to emerge in March so not long to wait.
At least that might put your mind at rest.


If you don't have wax polish there's a small cheapish one can be found in Tesco (or hardware stores perhaps,) called Lord Sheraton that is soft and easy to get in the holes. 

delmonta

twopenny said:

I think you've done a good job of checking. I doubt you would get them in the piano or floors with the hardness of the wood and no damp.
You can check an item for active woodworm by using wax polish to fill the holes and if any new ones they will show up. Might be worth doing that to the stool and keeping it out of the house. They start to emerge in March so not long to wait.
At least that might put your mind at rest.


If you don't have wax polish there's a small cheapish one can be found in Tesco (or hardware stores perhaps,) called Lord Sheraton that is soft and easy to get in the holes. 

Thanks that's good to know

I have put the stool on a black piece of paper after hoovering out the holes, so if there's any new activity I should see the dust. I read this somewhere, but perhaps your idea is better

But maybe I should just burn the stool to be sure!

twopenny

Depends how much you want the stool. 
Treated with rentokill wodworm treatment and it will be fine. If it's wood  you sand it down and save some dust to mix with the filler and fill the holes.

I have a 1600 chest that has had the worm but it's been treated. Ditto a 1700 table. 

If thats too much trouble you don't want it so chuck it 
But waiting to see if it's old or live will put your mind at rest about the real.

theoretica

How small is the stool?  If it will fit in the oven, 60 degrees for 2 or 3 hours will kill anything left.

JohnB47

It's possible that the area where it was stored at your mums was relatively damp and the infestation started there. In my recent experience woodworm seems to prefer wood found in slightly damp areas - usually in unventilated ground floor or basement areas. They avoid really dry wood - upstairs structures in my experience.

I would second the idea of simply treating the stool with a woodworm treatment. You can get it as low odour now, in small spray containers (for just under £10) as well as big tins (around £23 for 5L) for painting it on larger areas. It'll kill existing infestations and protect for the future.

Chickereeeee

I would go and see a doctor...

delmonta

twopenny said:

Depends how much you want the stool. 
Treated with rentokill wodworm treatment and it will be fine. If it's wood  you sand it down and save some dust to mix with the filler and fill the holes.

I have a 1600 chest that has had the worm but it's been treated. Ditto a 1700 table. 

If thats too much trouble you don't want it so chuck it 
But waiting to see if it's old or live will put your mind at rest about the real.

thanks yeah I don't mind too much about the stool!

delmonta

theoretica said:

How small is the stool?  If it will fit in the oven, 60 degrees for 2 or 3 hours will kill anything left.

theoretica said:

How small is the stool?  If it will fit in the oven, 60 degrees for 2 or 3 hours will kill anything left.

It would fit in the oven! That's not a bad idea. Hopefully it won't set the house on fire

delmonta

JohnB47 said:

It's possible that the area where it was stored at your mums was relatively damp and the infestation started there. In my recent experience woodworm seems to prefer wood found in slightly damp areas - usually in unventilated ground floor or basement areas. They avoid really dry wood - upstairs structures in my experience.

I would second the idea of simply treating the stool with a woodworm treatment. You can get it as low odour now, in small spray containers (for just under £10) as well as big tins (around £23 for 5L) for painting it on larger areas. It'll kill existing infestations and protect for the future.

Thanks, as far as I can remember it was stored in a plastic box in a mostly heated room at my mums, it's hard to imagine it was damp. But it was in Devon which is pretty damp in general. 

Another poster suggested putting it in the oven at 60 degrees for a few hours, this is an option as its a small stool

mexican_dave

JohnB47 said:

It's possible that the area where it was stored at your mums was relatively damp and the infestation started there. In my recent experience woodworm seems to prefer wood found in slightly damp areas - usually in unventilated ground floor or basement areas. They avoid really dry wood - upstairs structures in my experience.

Yes, the adult woodworm is a beetle and prefers to lay it's eggs in damp wood (avoiding dry wood). The eggs hatch into larvae (grubs) that chew the softer parts of the wood grain, tunnelling around as they feed, making powdery poo. Eventually the larvae, pupate into adult beetles and emerge from holes to fly off and lay eggs somewhere. So the holes actually show where the adult beetles have flown from, and the powdery poo will drop-out when the timber is tapped. Maybe your woodworm has gone? As that's only maybe, then I would treat with a proprietary woodworm treatment. Obviously apply to the holes so that the treatment can get deep into the wood and on any "end grain" near to the holes. "End grain" is the direction that wood soaks up fluid - water when it was a tree. Provided the wood is not painted or heavily stained you will see "end grain" which will appear speckled and show growth rings, as it is a section through a trunk or branch, of what was a tree. See also
https://images.app.goo.gl/zg7zAYacBX8iyaTPA