Woodworm Treatment London

Woodworm Treatment

We’ve all heard of the horrors of woodworm, and left unchecked, they really do cause a lot of damage. Woodworm are a family of beetle species which bore their way through wood and timber. Out in the wild this isn’t a problem. In your lovely home though, that’s a different matter!

The main reason they are so destructive, is that the adult beetles lay their eggs stealthily hidden in the cracks of wood to keep the eggs safe, as well as provide a source of food for the larvae to burrow into and feed on when they hatch. 

Happily tunneling their way through your home, mostly out of sight. Not ideal is it? If you suspect you have woodworm, you’ll need expert help promptly, but here are a few pointers on what to look for:

How Do You Know If You Have Woodworm?

If you’re looking for signs of woodworm in your home, here are are few indicators that you may have a woodworm infestation:

• Bore Dust As the beetles emerge from the wood it creates a mixture of wood dust and beetle droppings called Frass which you can spot below infested timber

• Wood Tunnels The burrowing beetles leave a network of tunnels or ‘galleries as they’re also known which are actually difficult to spot.

• Recent Exit Holes A freshly bored woodworm hole will be roughly 2mm in size and round or oval in shape with a cleaner and crisper appearance than older holes.

• Crumbling Wood Wooden corners on areas such as roof joists or floorboards have corners or edges which are rounded or breaking away.

• Damaged Or Weak Floorboards You’ll start to notice a difference to the strength of floorboards as they become weaker underfoot, or in  more extreme cases, parts of furniture may break through the wood.

• Woodworm Larvae There are many varieties of woodworm but their larvae are most often creamy-white in colour.

• Woodworm Eggs These are ricky to spot with the naked eye and vary in size depending on which type of beetle it is.

• Adult Woodworm Beetles Between May and October, also known as Woodworm Season, you may notice the adult beetles emerging from the wood or timber in your home.

• Dead Woodworm Beetles Woodworm only live for a few days if male, and a couple of weeks if female, so you may find dead beetles on window sills or close to infested timber.

How Serious Is Woodworm?

There are various types of woodworm – some more destructive than others. The severity of your woodworm infestation will depend on the size of the infestation, which species it is, and the condition of the wood in your home. 

Damp wood is the perfect invitation to many species of woodworm such as the Deathwatch Beetle but common culprits such as the Powderpost Beetle love nothing more than dry, seasoned wood.

Due to their size and boring ability, the most destructive woodworm are the House Longhorn Beetle larvae. These beetles are only found in damp timber but as they can bore so quickly they can impose severe damage rapidly – especially as a single female House Longhorn Beetle can lay 200 eggs each time,

The Common Furniture Beetle which is responsible for 75% of UK woodworm infestations in the UK makes homes of soft and hard woods, and the Wood Boring Weevil infests damp timber and is commonly found in wood affected by wet rot.

As you can now see, some species of woodworm really will make a meal of the wood in your home. If you’d like some advice, or to book a site survey, consultation or no-obligation quotation for woodworm services in London, please click here or call 02089596424.