Woodworm in kitchen joists/floorboard but just got new kitchen/floor fitted

sherbertfountain

Hello,

We've recently found evidence of woodworm in the joists and floorboards of our kitchen area which is directly above the basement (pics attached). We moved into the house about a 1.5 years ago and the basement was covered in pine tongue and groove planks (ceiling and walls, blocking the original Victorian air bricks) and scaffolding boards were put on top of the concrete floor, for +10 years, which over time had become damp. 

We've removed most of the new wood and taken down the lath and plaster, exposing the joists and floorboards. We've got a company to spray what they can to hopefully slow it down if it's still active, however they say the infestation is severe and we would need to take out the kitchen (which we only installed last year which cost £10k in all) and the parquet floor which is on top of the original floorboards (which we got restored last year for £1.5k).

We're wondering if airing out the basement and staying on top of the spray treatment will be enough.. we've got 3.5 years left on the mortgage and were planning on moving at the end of that, but we can't fathom taking the kitchen and flooring out..

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! 

Green_hopeful

Woodworm needs moist wood. If you can dry out the cellar it might slow it down. There is a good conservation group on Facebook. They are into conserving buildings not ripping stuff out but they may be able to give some advice. Spraying unfortunately doesn’t work because the spray just coats the wood rather than penetrating. It also kills all the helpful insects and spiders that eat woodworm. https://www.facebook.com/groups/youroldhouseuk/