Home buyers report - insect infestation

[pmanson]

Hi All,

Just had the home buyers report back on the property we are in the process of purchasing, it has raised a couple of issues that we were expecting (around the general condition of the decor) but it has also noted that

"there is evidence of insect infestion in some of the roof timbers, principally in the trimmers around the access trap. I saw only a small infestation that usaully results in limited treatment and repair. To be sure, you should ask an appropriately qualified and experienced person to do this soon."

It has rated this a severity 2 - "Defects that need repairing or replacing but are not considered to be either serious or urgent. The property must be maintained in the normal way"

Now i'm happy for this to be checked (and the other issues it raised) but how should I go about doing this?

Any PHer do this for a job and cover Bedfordshire?

Cheers,
Phill

[AMcLean]

Unless it's really bad, you could try this stuff

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rentokil-PSW85-Woodworm-Tr...

That's what I done in my last place. Bit fiddly but saves paying Rentokil a few £££.

[jeff m2]

Inform the sellers agent you want it rectified proffesionally.

[spikeyhead]

From previous experience, the surveyor has found four woodworm holes that were treated successfully twenty years ago.

Rather than risk a claim on his PI, he's pointing it out for you to get a specialist in who will either rip you off or tell you there's been no live insects or their larvae for many a long year.

[pmanson]

spikeyhead said:

From previous experience, the surveyor has found four woodworm holes that were treated successfully twenty years ago.

Rather than risk a claim on his PI, he's pointing it out for you to get a specialist in who will either rip you off or tell you there's been no live insects or their larvae for many a long year.

I'll have a chat with our solicitors in the morning but my thinking is the same as spikeyheads in that they've found an issue that has perviously been treated.

The main points on the report seem to relate to decor...

Mortgage company are happy to lend us the money (it was one of their guys that did the survey) and we've already had the mortgage offer through.

At this price we're happy to go with it knowing that it needs work to bring it up to scratch!

[anonymous-user]

spikeyhead said:

From previous experience, the surveyor has found four woodworm holes that were treated successfully twenty years ago.

Rather than risk a claim on his PI, he's pointing it out for you to get a specialist in who will either rip you off or tell you there's been no live insects or their larvae for many a long year.

This

[2stis]

AMcLean said:

Unless it's really bad, you could try this stuff

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rentokil-PSW85-Woodworm-Tr...

That's what I done in my last place. Bit fiddly but saves paying Rentokil a few £££.

I've done similar in my barn, but stuck to the brush on stuff as Permethrin isn't the nicest stuff to be spraying into the air. You can buy big tins of the stuff in Wickes and I bought a broom just to use for brushing that in and it doesn't take that long to treat quite large areas of boarding.

If you want to know if an infestation is active then you could just put some masking tape over the top of the current flight hole area. I'd masked up some wood prior to painting the walls of the barn and never got around to taking it off, and it was seeing that this then had flight holes in it that convinced me I did still have an active infestation that needed treatment.

[pmanson]

Great tip that... we'll give it a go (when we finally get in there)

[C Lee Farquar]

It's quite easy to tell if it's active. Look at all the holes with a torch, if the wood within the holes is like freshly sawn timber it's fresh, with age it darkens.

Usually if it's active you'll see trails of sawdust type material (fras) below the holes.

If it's active you should have all the loft timbers sprayed as a minimum. Treating the holes is a waste of time, they are emergence holes, stable door, bolted etc.