Woodworm treatment

Active woodworm with little pipes odf wood dust at the holes or just holes woodworm in the past?

Got a few floor joists above my head in our victorian shop that were affected. Chipped out the soft/powdered wood and liberally soaked everything in Wickes' finest WW treatment. Not had any issues since.

Also have occasional outbreaks in out 18th C. listed "project" cottage in Brixham in the timbers above windows amongst other places. At the time we had an insulin dependent dog and I found injecting WW treatment into the exit/flight holes got the stuff right into the critical areas that surface brushing would never reach.

Re-apply each year to areas that have evidence of the current years woodworm activity should keep things in check. Don't recall seeing any fresh activity in previously treated timber.

Surprisingly long. Our loft was done before we moved in and the wooden surfaces are still lethal to flying insects nearly 25 years later.

There is more than one formulation about. ISTR The water based one is synthetic pyrrethroid and seems to work well as a spray - which is good for getting into awkward corners. It smells a bit.

The other is solvent based, smells terrible and flammable so I wouldn't fancy spraying it, but it is OK when used with a brush. I think it is also capable of killing stopping various rots as well as woodworm.

The most effective chemicals are only really available to commercial operators with the right PPE including a full face respirator. That is what our loft was done with stuff by Protim (if they are still going).

ISTR they got the apprentice to go in there and do it.

is this active or historic worm? In the latter case it should not be treated - and most is historic worm.

Victorian houses were (either sometimes or always) built partly with green timber, which was wet & thus vulnerable to insects for the first couple of years.

NT

Active in some widow frames and other less critical timbers but seemingly inactive in the main roof timbers. However its not that easy to tell.

Mike

Have a look at boron-based woodworm treatments.

Water-soluble, so won't penetrate paint/varnish, and washes off outdoors. Effective against rot as well. Life expectancy is indefinite, as it's a salt. It also won't evaporate or outgas.

Apply with brush, syringe, sprayer, ...

Thomas Prufer

Affected.

Thanks, I've just ordered 5 litres.

Mike

My house has had a bit of woodworm (mainly historic). I treated one or two spots that were possibly current with Rentokil woodworm treatment.

If I understand things correctly, woodworm are flying insects, so I reckoned that if you can intercept them with a slow-release fly-killer (see later) on their way in, they won't get a chance to stick their ovipositors into your woodwork to lay their eggs - so you won't get the grubs that tunnel their way out, leaving the tell-tale holes.

My house also seems to be a highly-desirable residence for wasps, so every spring and early summer I have to take steps to deter them from making a wasp-line for my loft, garage or garden sheds. I used to install a few of those Vapona fly killer things (with adjustable shutters so you could control the vapour release rate) - but apparently the EU decided that as well as flies and wasps, they could kill people too. These days I have to improvise by spraying an aerosol into an opened-out newspaper, then folding the newspaper up to slow down the rate that the fumes leak out. Although I've been targeting wasps (who usually fly a mile if they only smell fly/waspkiller), neither have I seen any sign of new woodworm holes.

If its water-based and you are treating something above shoulder level, then expect copious amounts to run down your hand,wrist,arm, ...

The EU didn't think VOC2010 through carefully enough, part of the problem with the way they 'legislate'.

In message , Jim K writes

But they are beetles that do fly at times. and some of the fly/wasp killer sprays say "Kills all flying insects".

Common garden sprayer and you are fine.

Borate-based treatments are water-soluble salts -- nothing to do with the EU.

Borates are nice because they stay put. A lot of the organic toxins evaporate slowly, and some later turned out to have unpleasant side effects on humans.

Thomas Prufer

Also, woodworm can't bore into timber in heated areas of the house as the moisture content is too low. To be a current infection, timber would need to be in an unheated area of the house, or exposed to damp (which will cause rot in any case).