Atlantis Property Preservation Ltd

What is woodworm?

A number of insects, mainly beetles, are able to use wood as a food source and some of them are able to cause damage to timbers n buildings. The most common infestation found in your property is the common furniture beetle, Anobium punctatum, an insect native to the British Isles and found in Hazels and other trees that are common in the UK.

What are the signs of woodworm in my property’s timbers?

Where there has been, or currently is, an infestation of woodworm in your property you will see the tell-tale bore holes in the wood. The important thing to remember is that these holes could be of an historical nature and there may currently be no active infestation.

There are a couple of ways to identify whether your timbers have active woodworm. You could fill the exit holes with bees wax and wait for a year to see if any holes are unfilled the following year. The season for hatching Lava is March – August and this is why such a long period of observation time is needed. Another important observation is whether you can see any frass present on the timbers. This frass can be used to help identify woodworm pests even if the adult insects are no longer visible, as different species form different shaped droppings. The frass of wood-boring beetles is made up of fragments torn off but not consumed, and fragments that have passed through the insects’ gut! It resembles a fine, powdery dust and is usually found below the area of the infected wood. Frass falls out of old flight holes, when larvae bore through old larval tunnels, hence the buildup of material below the infested timber. It is not generally a result of new adult beetles emerging.

Where am I most likely to see the signs of an infestation?

Female furniture beetles will only lay eggs in wood where they think their larvae stand the best chance of pupating into adult insects. They tend to choose the sapwood of softwood and European hardwoods unless wood rot is present, where it may be found in heart wood as well and the attack is most severe in damp and fast growing timbers.

When the larvae hatch out it takes them between two and five years to chew enough nutrients from the timber to invest enough energy to pupate into adult beetles. That’s a long time! And all the while, the timber may be drying down further, making it harder for them to feed as the timber gets drier and tougher. This also means that the resulting adult beetles will be smaller and less likely to produce offspring, so a female must choose a low risk place to lay her eggs.

All timbers in your home may be affected by woodworm, and they are commonly found in subfloor voids and loft spaces where timbers can become damp.

How can it be treated?

At Atlantis Damp Proofing & Timber Specialist, we take a pragmatic approach to the management of woodworm infestations. Our experienced surveyors use their knowledge to determine whether there is an active infestation. Depending on the time of year, it is not unusual for us to advise that no treatment is necessary until an observation period has passed. That way, you know you’ll only be paying for treatments that you absolutely need to protect your property.

If treatment is required, we’ll take all the necessary precautions to ensure that all health and safety procedures are adhered to. We would then clean down the timbers to allow maximum penetration of the preservative which creates a pesticidal envelope. The contact insecticide hits the nervous system of the beetles as they emerge from the timber and eradicates the problem.

What Do I Next? 

Fortunately, this bit is simple! If you feel that your property may be under attack from wood worm and you’ve spotted some of the signs we’ve shared here, then just contact us by clicking the link below. We cover Northwich, Warrington, Crewe, Chester, South Manchester, Runcorn, Wrexham, & surrounding areas just contact us now for a no obligation quote now.