Woodworm advice

[Trif]

Hi all,

I've ripped out my kitchen and it's laminate floor today and discovered a few woodworm holes in the floorboards. I promptly and very easily managed to push through 3 of the boards. Not wanting to get ripped off over this unexpected situation I'd like some advice from this forum.


Woodworm holes on the surface:
http://i.imgur.com/AOkhwnL.jpg

holes underneath:
http://i.imgur.com/v16rTf5.jpg

the boards:
http://i.imgur.com/r30x3Pf.jpg

Joists:
http://i.imgur.com/SMPYV7N.jpg

The damage so far:
http://i.imgur.com/skTxBGF.jpg


Do you think it is worth getting someone in to look at this? Or just replace all the boards in the room. How much should I pay for a survey? Do you think it will still be active?


Thanks.

[Murph7355]

If nothing's been done to eradicate it, then I would expect it to still be active. You could look out for the fine dust that they kick out of the holes around the infected areas and see if any seems fresh. But that's far from scientific.

Personally I'd be stripping out all untreated softwood timbers in the area and replacing them with pressure treated replacements.

Problem is, depending on where it is and how the rest of the house is built, you could find it all over the place...and the only way to tell would be to inspect the place top to bottom (including your furniture), which is likely to be invasive...but probably the only way to know you've dealt with it fully.

[jason61c]

Don't bother getting anyone in. Its a waste of money and the 'insurance back warranty' thing is a piss take.

Get some treatment and do it yourself. The joists look ok, can you get a screwdriver into them far?

[Renovation]

My Dads Victorian farmhouse had woodworm and he had it all treated before we moved in as the place was a wreck - so the majority of floorboards were taken up - sprayed and replaced (where solid enough)

30 years on there are still active woodworm (we see holes appearing in the painted doors)

However in smaller homes that are warm and dry after renovation I've never seen woodworm managing to survive.

[rovermorris999]

Moisture content of the wood is the key. If it's below about 11% then it's too dry for woodworm so ventilation and warmth are the answer. Lots of guff said about woodworm usually by companies selling treatments.
Have read of these:

http://www.askjeff.co.uk/woodworm-the-hole-in-the-...

https://www.spab.org.uk/advice/technical-qas/techn...

[Trif]

jason61c said:

The joists look ok, can you get a screwdriver into them far?

No, they are in good health and are very solid.

I think I'll be taking up all the floorboards in the room and replace with plywood ready for tiling. Would you guys treat the joists anyway? I lifted a couple more boards up and the number of holes is diminishing fast and the boards are also in good health and not coming up very easily. The effected ones where near the outside door and sink. It's also interesting that someone had replaced some of this area with chipboard at some point (probably when the laminate went down maybe 10 or so years ago?


There isn't any wood dust under the other boards but there is a fair bit when I kicked through the boards. Looking at the ones I've taken out that were effected this was presumably inside the wood and broke free when they were split.


Thanks for your replies.

Edited by Trif on Tuesday 21st April 08:51