Remove furniture with woodworm, still necessary to fumigate?

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delgirl

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Does anyone know if you get rid of furniture that has / has had woodworm in it and there doesn't appear to be any holes in wooden doors etc., is it necessary / wise to treat the living space and/or wooden doors before putting new furniture in?

I've checked other posts on woodworm, but they mainly refer to infestation in joists.
Thanks.
 
It would be a good idea. Once you see the holes, it's too late. The holes are exit points, the larva can spend up to 5 years in the wood before maturing and making their escape.
Leo
 
I've had this problem very recently at home in a box bedroom that was previously used for storage. When clearing it out I noticed that an old workbench (previously infested but treated some time ago) was showing signs of beetle activity. I examined every square inch of the room to see if I could see any signs of infestation. As it happens the room appeared to be clear but I took the precaution of treating it regardless- woodworm is a scourge and can cause a lot of structural damage if untreated. I basically vacuumed the floor and all wood surfaces, all cracks and crevices etc. I then treated the entire area with a solvent based woodworm treatment, suitable for interior use, using something like an oil can to run the pesticide into each and every joint in the T&G floor, concentrating around all corners, joints and gaps where floors met skirting etc. I probably went overboard on this but you only get one shot at it. I let the stuff work in for a few days before wiping down the floor with a damp cloth. The room was redecorated and carpeted a couple of weeks later without difficulty. The product I used didn't have a strong smell but I maintained good ventilation while doing the work. AFAIK adult laying females leave flight holes in the infested wood around high summer and they are easily identified once you know what you're looking for.
 
One other thing- if you do find flight holes in the room, after you've treated them be sure to fill them. This will allow you to identify any new/ fresh activity and help you to distinguish this from old infestations.
 
We've had all the furniture removed, even pieces that had no 'holes' in them so the apartment is now empty.

We've checked the wood-framed French doors and couldn't find any holes at all.

Carpenter, is the solvent based woodworm treatment, suitable for interior use, available in somewhere like Woodies and is there a particular brand you would recommend?

Thanks.
 
I used [broken link removed] in my place. If you've a lot to cover, it's better value to buy this in a 5 gallon drum from a builders merchants rather than the 5l tins from the DIY outlets.
Leo
 
Delgirl, I used Protim; I only had a small room area to treat so I did buy the 5l tin. Richard is right in what he says about sap wood and wood with a high moisture content, as all the reference sites will confirm. But I've seen re-infestation of dry hard and soft woods so I wouldn't necessarily take a chance on it. I know that new softwood structural timbers, if kept dry, are unlikely to suffer an infestation.

The company I work for have used the Boron based products in conservation work. They certainly are easy and more pleasant to use than the solvent based products but are probably a little OTT for the situation you describe.
 
Carpenter said:
Delgirl, I used Protim; I only had a small room area to treat so I did buy the 5l tin. Richard is right in what he says about sap wood and wood with a high moisture content, as all the reference sites will confirm. But I've seen re-infestation of dry hard and soft woods so I wouldn't necessarily take a chance on it. I know that new softwood structural timbers, if kept dry, are unlikely to suffer an infestation.

The company I work for have used the Boron based products in conservation work. They certainly are easy and more pleasant to use than the solvent based products but are probably a little OTT for the situation you describe.
Click to expand...

One word of caution - check to see if the pesticides contain permethrin before you use them. It has been suspected to cause nerve damage from prolonged low dose contact, not conclusively mind you but I don't think I'd take the risk.
 
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