Woodworm

[Staycalmandscream]

Looks like we have them. Live ones found in bathroom but can't find their exit holes anywhere. I feel wretched.

Can anyone give me tales of hope & an idea what to expect financially?

do you have buildings insurance with emergency cover?
give them a call.

red I did, they said woodworm is an standard exclusion

Have had 3 different people (2 via photos, 1 via looking at a dead bug under a microscope) say the creatures I've found are furniture beetles i.e. woodworm will be present in our house.

We have loads of exposed beams and joists due to sh!tey builders yrs ago who bodger our extension and I had to pack off while dealing with new baby, relationship breakdown, deaths of my father & a friend. In the following years raising 2 kids alone (proper alone, no contact kept by the father, my small family live in a different town and never helped anyway except my mum who developed dementia while all this was ongoing) I've just never had the time or focus to be able to get on top of the mess we live in.

And now woodworm! I feel overwhelmed, convinced the entire house will need treating as due to open floor areas etc the horrors could be everywhere and anywhere.

We have a 3 bed semi. Can anyone who has been thru similar housewise share any advice or info on what to expect. Or potential cost. Or if the nationals are any good for their elevated pricing (rentokil, timberwise, Peter Cox). Their guarantees are 20-30 years whereas a local PCA approved firm is only 10 years.

I can't stop itching thinking about it.

And will be realistically red to move out during a house treatment? We have no where to go & no one to turn to. I feel like a proper parent failure right now & not sure how I can get us through this alone.

Had this done three years ago.

Three bed detached, had woodworm in upstairs floor boards and skirting.

They are relatively slow to spread, so unless you can see hundreds of tiny round holes in your floors they are unlikely to have caused major damage.

Total cost for full fumeigation, including two nights in a Travel Lodge (you cannot stay in the house at all, no way) came to just under £1100.

Newone thank you thank you thank you.

What happened with your belongings in the house? Our house is jam packed. Did you use a national or local firm?

I haven't found a single exit hole but with so much open wood work they could be anywhere. Mostly seen the live beetles in the bathroom but the last few days I've seen 3 across the bedrooms & 1 in the kitchen. Think I've seen 1 flying downstairs too but not sure. The live bugs appeared from nothing to suddenly up to 20 a day in the bathroom but in the last 4-5 days this has dropped to more like 5 a day. I'm puzzled why so sudden than gradual & feel the amount seems high when others on forums from googling talk about finding 2 or so.

Have had 3 different people... are any of the three qualified to identify a woodworm beetle?

I can't stop itching thinking about it. They won't bite you!

Stop looking for exit holds and start looking for little piles of what seems to be sawdust - that's a lot easier to spot.

We moved into a house with woodworm (we knew about it, and negotiated a price reduction). Got the treatment done a couple of days before we moved in. Main effect was psychological - both of us felt every food we ate (especially mushrooms) for the next 6 weeks tasted of woodworm killer! Lived there 11 years and never saw another woodworm.

Mere 2 were done via photo by surveyors & 1 was ID'd by the council pest control who I handed some dead creatures to. Awaiting another ID from rentokil service who I sent some off to aswell.

Was yours a whole house job, can you remember how much it was roughly? Did you use a national? Does woodworm killer smell of mushrooms...?!

Oh dear, it sounds as if that is an accurate id. So next step is to seek quotes from 3 contractors, and with luck they'll be able to assess the extent of the damage. Check very carefully the floor joists of the bathroom, particularly under the bath.

Was yours a whole house job Yes, small 3 bed mid-terrace. can you remember how much it was roughly? It was 25 years ago! Did you use a national? Pass Does woodworm killer smell of mushrooms...?! Not in the slightest! It was a fairly faint chemically smell which somehow sneaked its way into your senses and made you feel slightly nauseous. I'm sure it had gone long before we stopped imagining it in food.

Current house had dry rot, which we had to sort before we moved in .

I've got timberwise due out next week, they offered a free survey which surprised me as I'm sure I read that others had to pay.
A local PCA firm have said £200 for a survey, then they'd give me a price on any work but I could also take the report elsewhere to have the work quoted / done. They give a 10 yr insurance backed guarantee.
Rentokil said £150, but they said it's unlikely other contactors will offer guarantees on others surveys incase an infestation has been missed. They also said they won't quote / do remedial treatment work based on anyone else's survey. So if I want them to do the work I have to get them to do the survey. Also although they offer a 30 yr guarantee, it's not insurance backed only company-backed. And as we know companies can go bust regardless of how long they've been around or how apparently bulletproof their business is.

I can't think clearly on the matter.

And I can't afford to get this wrong! Financially or timewise.

I have had woodworm in furniture abd treted it myself, and roof space joists sprayed out. The extit holes and the saw dust are the give away proof. Not sure what you would treat if you only saw live insects. Cou;d they have flown in looking for somewhere to lay eggs? I think you need to be sure before going to big expence

www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/property/advice/11089911/Home-improvements-should-I-worry-about-woodworm.html Jeff Howell speaks a lot of sense about woodworm and have a look on the money saving expert forums. Standard advice is if you think you have an issue is to get an independent timber expert (unfortunately you'll have to pay for it) to come out to look as a pest control firm will just want to sell you treatment (even if the initial survey is free). As prior poster said they are slow to spread (unless you are in a particular area of surrey I think as there is particular bug there that is an issue) and like fresh, damp wood.

Little I'm in the northwest.I've read about the clicking very destructive wood borers with horror!

Confused the odd thing has been how we saw none then almist overnight started seeing 10-20 a day. Doesn't fit with anything I've read, plus time of year.

Doesn't fit with anything I've read, plus time of year. No. With that many, you'd expect to be near the source, ie larvae. I've not heard of the adults heading off en masse to find somewhere to lay eggs, it doesn't make sense. But it's May that the beetles emerge, not October. That was why I was asking about who'd done the id. Maybe an independent timber expert is the way to go.

Princess wow, massive job. Sorry you had such a bad situation to tackle, and still ongoing. Were you living there, how did it get to the whole house?
7k is a lot but I guess on your size house there's a lot of wood to treat & repair. Is your guarantee insurance backed, was it a PCA contractor?

Any other advice / experiences?

Still waiting for rentokils opinion of what the bugs are but thinking an independent surveyor could be a good idea, although can't find many pca ones around here.

Need to make some calls to challenge rentokils claim that no one will work off someone else's survey too.

Rentokil got back to me, according to their ID the bugs I sent them are biscuit beetles.

Which fits with size cos mine seemed on the small side for furniture beetle. Plus appearing late in season & the fact so many so quickly showed up didn't add up.

But I'm also processing the furniture beetle ID's. 2 were via photo by people who treat infestations so I can see they could be biased. It's the other ID by the council I'm confused by. The council have no reason to ID any creature as not paid to treat. But Rentokil could make money off diagnosing furniture beetle, so their ID also feels reliable given they make no money from telling me its biscuit beetle.

What would you do next, who would you believe?

Possible progress made today!

I'd had a 'good look' in the bathroom cupboard & nothing untoward was seen. But today I decided to empty it out & clean. Found about another 20 creatures, mostly on the shelf with a wheat bag stuffed at the back (which I'd forgotten about & haven't used for years & years, one of those you put in the microwave instead of a hot water bottle). The wheat bag had gone all hard & felt odd.

So I'm thinking this could be it, biscuit beetles that were feeding on the wheat?

Open the wheatbag! Is it riddled with bugs?

I didn't even think of doing that kitkat I was so grossed out I threw it in a bag in another bag & took to the wheelie bin. Will recover & examine later today if I get the chance.

I hope your house is worm free. :-)