Woodworm in old rotten furniture..

[RumbaBumba]

I've rescued two beautiful utterly shagged antique reclining steamer chairs from a skip (yes I did ask permission). The sort of thing that wouldn't look out of place on the deck of The Titanic. I plan on restoring them to their former glory. It'll be lots of hard work - they need totally stripping down and new wood splicing in in places. I'd like to ask if anyone knows about woodworm? I've brought the chairs indoors to dry out properly. Will any woodworm that are currently in them, perpetuate more woodworm, or will they all die out in the warmer drier atmosphere? Once the wood is dry I plan to sand down & treat it with a paint-on preservative but will this be enough? I don't want the bugs spreading to my other vintage furniture. The holes look fresh and perfect but could be ages old, I've no idea.

Chances are the woodworm is long gone however you clearly don't want to take that risk and infest all your other furniture. You need to store the chairs outside or in a garage. Either tape a piece of paper over the bottom and see if there are flight holes bored through after a few weeks or put white paper on the floor under the chairs and check for wood dust to indicate movement.

If there is a residue of wood dust around they are still in there. If there is no dust they are probably old. Yes, live ones could get into other furniture and they live quite happily inside! Keep the chairs in a shed until you have determined if they are active or not. Then treat or stop worrying!