How Much Woodworm ....?

Stigura

How much woodworm, in a door, before ye just say " **** This! " and buy a new door?

I've been sanding like a fiend and just thought I'd attack another (Old, this time) internal door before settling down for the night.

Opened it, into my work room. Put the light on and ..... Oh lawd! I'd never stopped to notice That before! One panel looks like a shotgun blast ..... Oh, christ! I've just looked at the other side! Very Active worms! I think That doors going!

Got another door here, Two panels shot. These doors are probably over a century old. What does The Massive think? Could it possibly be worth the drama of breaking out these, moulded in, panels and replacing them?

A ton a door? Whole new door? Wrecking half a door and renewing it sounds like drama, for that price.

I'm all ears.

John mac

Woodworm Killer Treatment 250ml

paint it with something like this

Stigura

Ye reckon that sort of stuff works? I've, frankly, always been a bit dubious of it.

I'd also point out that I intend to Stain this wood. If I were painting it? No doubt I could flash over the holes. Light Oak stain though ....?

Stigura

Hells Teeth! Let me rephrase the original question, in light of This!

I've just sanded a panel back, on the notion that, " What if I sand right through the 'rotten' wood? "

Not so far wrong! I don't know if I'll ever go right through. But:

Is there anything I could fill That sort of scarring with. Then apply Ronseal Light Oak Wood Stain over it

looksee

If you have live woodworm in a door you have live woodworm elsewhere. Check the attics and any other places where there could be raw wood. 100 year old doors is a romantic notion but not having woodworm is much more sensible.

GinSoaked

Provided the door is still structurally sound and isn't falling to bits then its quite savable.

Personally I prefer the "stinky" preservative/woodworm killers like Protim 265 they will kill all the current woodworm and prevent any more attacking your door.

You can however get water based products that don't have the same odour levels and are supposed to be safer to use but the stinky ones imho do a better job.

Stigura

looksee wrote: »

If you have live woodworm in a door you have live woodworm elsewhere.

Now, ye see; I've just read a piece that said the 'worms' get into fresh, moist, green wood, virtually out in the forest. Then, their larvae burrow Out at some point. Freaking us out.

But, it actually stated, very clearly, that a wormy piece of furniture, brought into the home, won't spread wood worms.

Doctors differ. I can only say that the door to This room ~ whilst facing into the same kitchen as the other two ~ appears completely worm free Glad of that. It's a Lot of door and frame!

Regards the roof and such? Beyond my web of giving one. Be lucky if I last another decade. Roof, what ever its state, will outlast me. I'm just looking at prettying these doors up

Stigura

GinSoaked wrote: »

Provided the door is still structurally sound and isn't falling to bits then its quite savable.

Savable, yes. But; Will it ever be Stainable

GinSoaked

Stigura wrote: »

Savable, yes. But; Will it ever be Stainable

Depends how rustic a finish you want.

My wife would cultivate woodworm specially to create that that effect but I'd happily buy a new door.

Stigura

I could swap ye wife this one, for a new one? Very rustic looking

Seriously though; If it were rough, old, " Yee Olde Castle " type stuff? Yeah. Great. Spot of Death Watch would add character.

As it is though, I'm trying to do this place up, to the standard the people who built the place would have liked, if they had money to burn.

Not sure if they'd have asked for Woodworm Chic

looksee

Stigura wrote: »

Now, ye see; I've just read a piece that said the 'worms' get into fresh, moist, green wood, virtually out in the forest. Then, their larvae burrow Out at some point. Freaking us out.

But, it actually stated, very clearly, that a wormy piece of furniture, brought into the home, won't spread wood worms.

Doctors differ. I can only say that the door to This room ~ whilst facing into the same kitchen as the other two ~ appears completely worm free Glad of that. It's a Lot of door and frame!

Regards the roof and such? Beyond my web of giving one. Be lucky if I last another decade. Roof, what ever its state, will outlast me. I'm just looking at prettying these doors up

If a piece of wood is brought into the home and the 'worms' have flown and there are no larvae left in it, then that is true. If there is powder around the holes and the holes are new and the item has been in your home over the late spring then you almost certainly have the beetle - quite possibly laying its eggs somewhere in your house.

I bought a wooden trough which had some old woodworm holes but I decided they were old and therefore harmless. Then one day I spotted the dreaded dust around one of the holes. So I treated it and stuck it in a plastic bag which I sealed tight. And forgot about it. About a year later I looked at it and there, inside the plastic were a good few beetles, so much for treatment!

Stigura

Now that ye've reminded me of all this? It just gets weirder!

Ye mention of " The Dreaded Dust " had me back in there. I'd noticed dust, earlier. Only, on closer inspection, I realised its just light cobweb and saw dust! It's my tool room, after all :rolleyes:

But, I then carried out a Very up close examination of the whole door ~ that side. What's weird is that it's Only that one (of four) panel that's effected! There's literally One exit hole, in one strip of the beading holding That panel in place. Entire rest of the door is perfect.

Now, I was a vertebrate specialist. Never really concerned myself with insects. So, I really know as little as the next man. But, doesn't this information chime in well with the idea that the 'worm' may have got into the original sheet that panel was cut from?

Again, I'm no saw miller. I just assumed it'd be thin ply wood? For all I know, that could be a thin slice off a log. And that log could have had worm eggs in it.

Fascinating stuff! Doesn't make my staining it nicely any easier though!

looksee

I don't think woodworm would be interested in plywood, but beading is another matter altogether. I'm not a woodworm expert either, just a bit of observation down the long years (my parents were obsessive about it!)

Stigura

Yeppers. I could agree with that.

In fact, now I think of the scarification, on the face of the panel, where I sanded the top surface off? I guess it Doesn't look like ply either. Did they even make ply a century ago

Probably is a thin cut of straight wood then. And it's Rotten with them!

Aha! So, it's my guess then that that single worm burrowed to the right and thus came out Through the bead? Hot damn!

We could go into business together! :cool: LOL!

Akesh

Chemicals will only be a temporary fix. There is too much moisture in the room/area. You need better ventilation in the room.

I would suspect there are wooden floors in the house and you should check there, if not it could be the wooden skirting board. If there is little ventilation in the room, the moisture will be forced underneath the floor and that could be the source.

Stigura

Nah. All good here, Akesh. Solid concrete floors. No skirting board anywhere in the place. Best ventilated room in the place. I saw to that myself

This genuinely looks like nature blind sided us. Leaving me to end up with some square inches of a bit of wood that was holding eggs.

Not for a moment suggesting they lay dormant for a hundred years either. Just that this is the only time, in my fifteen years here, that I've ever actually paid much attention to this door.

Seem to think I have a patch of worm in another door too? Did I mention that? Only, that one's virtually at a right angle to the front door. (Place never had a back door) and so about as ventilated as it could get.

Yellow_Fern

woodworm dosn't spread. It can only live when you have damp.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Habor-Thermometer-Hygrometer-Temperature-Replacement/dp/B07GWL6ZFV/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=humidity+sensor&qid=1595681437&sr=8-5

Buy one of these and ventilate if it goes above 60%.

Akesh

Doesn't matter if you think it's ventilated, it's not ventilated enough otherwise they wouldn't be there. You have too high moisture % in the room. They will keep coming back until you reduce the moisture levels.

looksee

I don't know how the woodworm spread got into the wooden trough I was talking about then, it was sitting in a warm, dry hall of a dry, centrally heated, ventilated house when suddenly they evolved!

Yellow_Fern

looksee wrote: »

I don't know how the woodworm spread got into the wooden trough I was talking about then, it was sitting in a warm, dry hall of a dry, centrally heated, ventilated house when suddenly they evolved!

I think you could have a situation where a house is above 60% relative humidity but feel very comfortable but still be at risk. At ground level you might have high humidity.

GinSoaked

Yellow_Fern wrote: »

I think you could have a situation where a house is above 60% relative humidity but feel very comfortable but still be at risk. At ground level you might have high humidity.

Woodworm prefer damp timber but that doesn't stop them being active in dry timber.

Yellow_Fern

GinSoaked wrote: »

Woodworm prefer damp timber but that doesn't stop them being active in dry timber.

Depend on how we define dry or damp, but I think that is a myth to be honest. I am no expert but to me, people dont realize how poor their ventilation is. Dont people release 1 and 1/2 pints a day.

GinSoaked

Yellow_Fern wrote: »

Depend on how we define dry or damp, but I think that is a myth to be honest.

I think your the one making up myths.

Try googling your myth.