Buying a property with woodworm treatment and a 20 year guarantee

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Im buying a property with woodworm and having it treated with a 20 year guarantee, what should I be aware of?
Will it affect price if having to sell
later?

It may never of had woodworm in the first place.
How old is it and where was the treatment done?
I think it’s a non issue.

How bad is the woodworm? Who advised you it had woodworm?

Every survey I have had (and I have moved more than most) indicates woodworm. Watch the upselling from surveyors.

How bad is the woodworm? A few holes here and there or totally eaten beams and joists? Most rural properties have a little somewhere

It would be hard to find an older property that didn't have woodworm somewhere or had it in the past and been treated..

Generally treatment needs doing once every 25 years - roof timbers, joists and floorboards mainly. All the houses I have owned have been treated.

If it hasn't been done recently, I normally do it as soon as I move in. Then I can get on with redecorating and recarpeting. It only takes a day.

I'm in the building trade, woodworm is very common, and most of the time is only mild, even in untreated timbers. The thing that is usually completely destroyed is plywood (which they devour) bigger timbers its usually only mild and on the peripheral edges - all my roof timbers have flight holes down one edge (70s house) no activity, never treated, it was likely there when it was put up.

Thanks everyone. The surveyors recommended a rot survey and the specialist survey found rising damp and woodworm for which they quoted handsomely. The house is Victorian build circa 1894-1910
What I found so far is that the treatment should be Property care Approved and insurance backed or I might have problems later..if need to sell

Was the specialist from a company that sells damp and rot treatment? Did they suggest injecting a chemical damp course? A genuine independent surveyor will suggest possible treatment and indicate a possible cost, he wouldn't quote because he's a surveyor not somebody selling treatments. There are many threads about "rising damp", try searching for them and read this https://www.buildingconservation.com/articles/risingdamp/risingdamp.htm#:~:text=Rising%20damp%20is%20widely%20misdiagnosed,the%20readings%20of%20moisture%20meters.

Thank you, yes to both questions above

@pigletjohn is the font of all knowledge about damp and old buildings, look for her/his posts.

Damp treatment is more often than not pretty usrless. Usually it consists of injecting silicone fluid into walls, but not repairing the damaged brickwork, broken gutter or plumbing leak that is the source of the water.

Woodworm spray however is probably OK. You need to remove carpets and floor coverings and lift enough floorboards to treat the joists fully. Dirt and rubble will prevent the fluid wetting the timber. In lofts, stored items may be an obstruction.

You are most likely to find it round the loft hatch, where warm air leaks up into the loft and creates a cosy home, and bathroom floors which are likely to have been damp.

Modern houses with central heating are usually too dry for worm to survive.

In parts of Southern England you get Longhorn Beetle which is very pernicious. Your surveyor should know if you are in an affected area.

When searching for signs of infestation, use a flat-ended screwdriver to poke the wood. Not a nail or anything round and pointed, because it will leave marks that look like wormholes.

I bet you a pound it hasn't got "rising damp."

At that age it has probably got broken drains, leaking waterpipes, paving that bridges the DPC, and blocked airbricks. Silicone injections will not repair these

And, yes, it has got a DPC. Almost certainly slate, which lasts 50 million years and does not wear out.

It's in the south of England, trouble is the estate agent got their own surveyor to check for damp and found woodworm, I asked them to check for dry rot, which they did later under the floor with a camera. They did not allow for an invasive check done by Rentokil.
I'm completing this week and I feel a contingency/retention sum is needed in case rot is found when the floorboards are lifted or all around the house infestation.

Im stressed and worried and I need to move.

Did the estate agent get a surveyor in, or did they get a salesman from a company that sells silicone injections and pays commission to estate agents?

I'm sure you already know the answer to that!

I won't be doing the damp proof at this stage as I will try installing airbricks, fixing gutters and fixing the drains which showed issues.
My concern is that with the wormwood and all the dump bellow the house there will be rot present and they won't agree to allow an invasive check of this before completion so I'm trying to negotiate a contingency/retention to ensure no surprises there

We had our old house done when we moved in. Also had air bricks added and extensive rubble removed from the sub floor. That fixed lots of problems but it turned out the ongoing chimney damp was due to a combination of poor guttering and a chimney stack which needed either repainting or removing. We got there in the end. Houses like this are a bit of a headache as there's awlays something but none of it tends to affect resale because it is so common and down to their construction. Our also had subsidence which again is very common, they liked to build them on nice flat riverside locations!