I have just discovered an infestation of woodworm in a chest of drawers. I suspect they have been in there since I brought the chest about 7 years ago. Although I have removed the offending furniture I was advised to check the floorboards in the room. However the house we live in (we have been here about 18 months) is very new (~4 years old) and the boards are beneath a layer of chipboard. Before I continue to create an even bigger mess I suddenly thought that current building regulations might mean that floor boards and joists have to be treated to protect them against woodworm. Is this the case or am I simply too hopeful.
To be treated, or burned? Was it *really* active woodworm? How did you find out?
Woodworm don't seem to like chipboard (not that it's really proof against them always).
Crikey.
I think you're being rather too hopeful.
Leave it, there's nothing you can do right now to deal with them. In the season, keep an eye out for further signs (especially on the window sills, where dead bugs may be found). Even if you *do* have a problem, it will take time to manifest itself, time to do any significant. Take action later if you need to.
Treatment of new timber is only required in certain areas where there is a history of attack by House Longhorn Beetle. These include parts of West Surrey, North Hampshire and parts of Berkshire. This particular beetle is very destructive and often difficult to notice until a lot of damage has been done, but fortunately it's extremely rare. For some reason, the regs only require treatment to roof timbers and not floor joists.
The holes you can see are where the adult beetle has eaten its way out and flown away to find a mate and somewhere to lay its eggs. There could well be more larvae still burrowing around in there, so it might be worthwhile treating the chest with Cuprinol woodworm killer or similar, or you should burn it if you don't want it any longer. The odds are well in your favour concerning any damage to the house as the beetles are quite picky about the type of timber. (Having said that, the larvae do have a penchant for chipboard - I think they like the glue :) In general they only attack moist sapwood, which nowadays you'll only find at MFI, IKEA or B&Q. I don't think it's worth the effort and mess of checking the floorboards for some time yet, as the beetles have to go through a complete lifecycle before any holes appear, which takes around 4 years on average.
Hope this puts your mind at rest. You'll find some sensible advice here:
That's not my experience at all. I've seen chipboard roofdecking and plywood meterboards etc literally eaten away by woodworm, with big piles of dust underneath and the cables and fittings hanging in mid-air. These were all in cold dampish places like cellars and garages. As I said in my other message, there are types of glue used in the manufacture of these boards that beetles find attractive. Maybe formaldehyde? I'm not a chemist :)
Note that this is only one of the three UK species of longhorn beetle. The others (I've got a load of the little buggers, that came in with a load of waney oak) will only attack green timber. They don't even like oak sapwood, preferring just the cambium alone. The longhorn is particularly problematic because it makes 1/4" holes, not the tiny ones of the powder post or furniture beetles.
Woodworm holes does not mean woodworm. Glue a piece of paper over the holes: if the paper gets lots of little holes, youve got live worms, if it doesnt, theres no problem,. Odds are you dont have worm.
The larval stage of the House Longhorn Beetle can be up to 11 or 12 years compared to the 3-4 years of the Common Furniture Beetle, and they're much much larger too, up to 20mm long. So during its life one grub can chomp its way through a massive amount of wood. It will eat out the entire cross section of a piece of timber, leaving just a paper-thin skin on all 4 sides, which still looks like solid wood to the unwary surveyor! :)
Thanks for all the advice and it has put my mind to rest. The chest of drawers was infested - I took a bradle to the back of the one drawer around a recent hole (there was sawdust beneath it) and found that the drawer had been eaten away. I took other random samples and more often than not hit sawdust.
The chest has been dispoed off (quite sad really as I really liked it) and you will pleased to hear that I have taken the advice to wait and see and have not wreck the bedroom.
Thanks once again and apologies for the delay in responding - Christmas shopping had to be done
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