woodworm treatment

sniperman

hi folks,im about to make a shed door from lengths of new 4x1 rough timber, (a replacement for one i made before)woodworm infested the last one,is there any thing i can put/paint on to prevent woodies again?would a few coats of fence life be any good?thanks

C. Eastwood

Sniperman

don't bother applying and chemicals to the new door. It will take many years for woodworms to do any damage.

Just apply Aluminium Primer, undercoat x 1 paint - and 1coat of paint.

1874

I know has been a while since this thread was started, but looking for advice on likely woodworm.

Noticed 2 reasonably sized piles of wood dust on a new item of furniture and the dust was directly below some very small holes in the drawer just above the dust. I dont knkw if this is a sign that there is woodworm in the house and they took a liking for the new furniture or a sign the furniture had woodworm in it and they started making a hole to get out?

I bought 3 items of similar furniture and so far couldn't find anything on other units, I vacuumed the wood dust,the holes and removed the drawer with holes,bagged it and placed it in a cold metal shed waiting treatment, house is new to me,but haven't seen signs of this elsewhere in the last 6 months, so I really suspect the specific piece of furniture.

How can I treat the wood furniture,including the 2 other items as a precaution?

How do I check for a problem elsewhere in the house and is it possible to treat?

I've read woodworm (boring beetle) can like damp, but heating is on and house ventilated?

Deregos.

Sounds like it came in with the furniture. There's lots of different treatments for woodworm like this.

https://www.lenehans.ie/rentokil-woodworm-treatment-250.html

I use an old syringe with a needle to get it squirting deep into the hole, or you could drop it in with a cocktail stick or small art brush, then leave the drawer in the shed for a couple of days until dry and any fumes have evaporated.

C. Eastwood

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120162211#Comment_120162211

OP

If you know any factory with a Kiln for kiln drying timber, ask could you put the furniture in to the kiln for a short period of time. The heat in the kiln will kill the woodworms in the furniture.

Alternatively you could purchase Woodworm Traps that will attract and kill the male woodworms.

I would not introduce poisonous chemicals in to a dwellinghouse.

jack of all

Deregos method is the one I use- an old syringe (once used to fill ink cartridges) and inject as many of the flight holes as possible with a woodworm treatment. Allow to dry and then (if it were me) I'd fill the holes with a wood filler, like Brummer wood stopping, which comes in various shades to match different timbers. Doing this allows you to monitor for any fresh flight holes and provides some reassurance that the problem is cured (provided there are no new holes in time). As for the other remark about "poisonous chemicals" - unless you plan to eat off this furniture I don't see any risk!

C. Eastwood

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120168807#Comment_120168807

The Woodworm holes in timber are Exit holes, where the Woodworm Beetle 🪲 has exited from the timber. Therefore the Beetle has flown away to find new timber to lay eggs.

Filling these holes to try to eradicate the worms is the same as closing the stable door after the horse bolted.

You state in relation to poisonous Chemicals - that you don’t see any risk. This is because your lungs do not have eyes.

chooseusername

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120168852#Comment_120168852

"Therefore the Beetle has flown away to find new timber to lay eggs."

Where do the lay those eggs?

C. Eastwood

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120171054#Comment_120171054

In a safe place in a timber so that the eggs can hatch and bore in to the timber. The female emerge from the wood in early summer and live for 2-4 weeks during which the female lays 20 to 100 eggs that hatch in 3-5 weeks. The larvae bore straight into the wood making a hole indiscernible to the naked eye.

A woodworm that traps the Male beetle and therefore reduces the amount of eggs.

chooseusername

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120171235#Comment_120171235

So what causes the damage, the female laying the eggs or the larvae when the eggs hatch?

jack of all

If you split open a piece of construction timber that's peppered with flight holes, you will see the "galleries" created by the woodworm as it chews its way through the timber, and if you're lucky you might even see a live larva or two! The galleries intersect so there is every reason to treat all flight holes- the flight holes provide a direct route into the timber to kill any woodworm within the timber. Anyway, I'll continue to treat woodworm with "chemicals", works for me!

C. Eastwood

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120171281#Comment_120171281

The male and female Beetles dies. The eggs hatch and the Larvae continue causing damage for 2 to 5 years.

chooseusername

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120171709#Comment_120171709

So how do you stop the larvae from causing damage?

C. Eastwood

It is difficult.

1. If the larvae is in furniture, remove the furniture from the house, because when the adult beetles exit from the exit holes, they mate and lay eggs in other timber nearby. Burn the furniture.
2. Place the furniture in a Kiln for drying timber. The heat in the Kiln will kill the Larvae.
3. If the worms ( larvae) are in unpainted timber (usually Carpentry), coating the surface work poisonous chemicals will kill the adult beetles when they are exiting the timber. This will not kill the larvae deep inside the timber, because painting on or spraying will only get the chemicals a few mm penetration in to the surface of the wood.
4. If the timber is painted ( usually Joinery) it is not possible to saturate the wood by coating the surface with poisonous chemicals, because the paint will prevent penetration of the chemicals.
5. Injecting poisonous chemicals in through the exit holes of infected wood will not give full saturation of the timber, and will not kill all the worms.
6. Remove and burn the timber that contains exit boreholes.
7. Leave the timber in place if the worm have not yet impaired the structural stability of the timber.

hydrus21

A summer house we have in West Cork built in 63 is eaten alive with woodworm.

Empty 9 months in the year, the beetles have thrived. All the furniture has been burned save a few nice bits. All the mouldings and doors have gone. This year the roof is coming off. All joists, wallplates, rafters, purlins, facias and soffits are infested.

20211002_114929.jpg

We believe the timbers already had woodworm when delivered to site.

C. Eastwood

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120172541#Comment_120172541

Wow that is a very expensive remedial job because of woodworm, in a 60 year old house.

The chair is in a very bad state from the beetles.

I assume that the house was constructed of 225 mm cavity block walls and no permanent ventilation, and not used for long periods of time, which would have caused the Moisture Content of the timber to increase. The woodworms prefer moist timber.

hydrus21

The walls are open 50mm cavity block, solid floor(TG) with one bathroom air brick. Up until 2000 it had draughty casement windows.

Its in a very exposed coastal location so there is no lack of ventilation but in the void periods I would imagine high humidity.

The Continental Op

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120172541#Comment_120172541

Not sure what wood is in those chairs (might be beech?) but that type of furniture seems to attract woodworm more than any other.

hydrus21

Yes it seemed that the chairs,table and matching kitchen units were the favourite although any wood was affected, old furniture ,painted

architraves. blockwood panel doors and plywood soffits.

chooseusername

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120172457#Comment_120172457

So, if op wants to treat the furniture and keep it and a kiln is not an option ,the only solution is to inject the holes, Is that right?

C. Eastwood

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120177148#Comment_120177148

The Poisonous Chemical will only penetrate a few mm in to the timber of the furniture when injected through the exit borehole.

Some of Larvae could still be alive and continue boring through the timber away from the surface and treated sections.

Citizen Six

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120177148#Comment_120177148

Could always build a Kiln I suppose.

chooseusername

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120178665#Comment_120178665

"the only solution is to inject the holes, Is that right?"

"The Poisonous Chemical will only penetrate a few mm in to the timber of the furniture when injected through the exit borehole.

Some of Larvae could still be alive and continue boring through the timber away from the surface and treated sections."

So, is that a no then? ( without over-explaining it)

The Continental Op

I've treated a few houses we've lived in and giving the timbers a good soaking of whatever woodworm treatment you fancy does a good job. It stops any new infestation because the timber is now toxic to the critters and as any previous generations emerge they are also killed. I've witnessed this on many occasions and most recently on a house I treated a few years back. Where I might have seen little piles of sawdust if I hadn't treated the timber I saw small piles of dead beetles.

If your house has the correct ventilation (mainly thinking about the roof) then you can soak the timbers in some really toxic stuff and you'll never get a whiff of it inside the house.

C. Eastwood

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120178821#Comment_120178821

It is a no.

All the larvae deep in the furniture will not be killed by spraying poison in through the boreholes.

All the surface of the furniture will not absorb the chemicals sprayed in to the boreholes.

After a few years (up to 5 years) the larvae will pupate and turn in to an adult beetle and bore out of the timber.

There is no guarantee that the area of this exit hole will be affected with the chemical that was sprayed in to a boreholes.

You will know that the beetle has exited by the evidence of frass which is a beige dust.

C. Eastwood

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120178859#Comment_120178859

I would never apply and Poisonous Toxic Chemicals inside in my house.

Our lungs were not designed to be inhaling Toxic Chemical 24/7.

dathi

the conservation method of killing wood worm larvae in furniture is not to place it in a kiln, which damages both the finish and the glue. but rather to wrap the piece in polyethene and then freeze the piece of furniture .

C. Eastwood

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120180963#Comment_120180963

Yes dathi

That is a good method of dealing with small pieces of furniture with an infestation of common furniture beetles.

blackbox

In my experience they thrived in cooler damper houses. A centrally heated house with low humidity is unlikely to have a problem with woodworm.

dathi

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120190734#Comment_120190734

you can do it with any size furniture if you can get access to a cold room

dendof

I have a piece of furniture which I treated with some woodworm treatment many months ago. I've just noticed that there's loads of dead what I think is the common furniture beetle. There's a few piles of dust aswell. Am I right in thinking that the beetles died on exciting holes, rinse and repeat? Is it worthwhile to treat again? I've no access to a kiln or such.