treating death watch beetle from outside the property???

[bamboobutton]

we live in an old thatched house, which is rented.

we noticed a tapping noise coming from the beams and told the landlord we thought it was deathwatch beetle.

rentokill came around, confirmed DWB, and said the procedure would be to drill into the beams every 20cm and inject poison. this would take 2/3 days.

landlord didn't like their quote (£1600) so are using a company that says they can treat it from the outside and it won't be invasive.

i find this very unless they tent the house, which would be invasive, how can they possibly treat beams from the outside, through thatch, without it being invasive??

am quite concerned as new baby is being delivered in 3 weeks by cs so i want this sorted asap. i don't want to leave the house because of poison and/or drilling and landlord/estate agent aren't exactly rushing it through.

anyone experienced deathwatch treatment from the outside of the house? how does it work?

We renovated a c16th thatched house where the beams had a longstanding infestation of DWB. We exposed as much beam as possible and then the contractor sprayed the beams. As the thatch is likely to be 1 - 2 ft deep how on earth will the contractor find the beams in your house from outside and what about the timber in the floors? I'd ask exactly what the process involves and if necessary speak to the contractor to get reassurance on this point. Also ask about the pesticides that they intend to use particularly as you will be bringing the baby into that environment.

I was told on my SPAB course that it's no longer recommended to spray beams against DWB - you zap them with laser beams when they emerge for flight instead (well, sort of...), so no pesky pesticides needed.

Yes - I read that too. V interesting and much better but you would still have to know where the beams were to do that, wouldn't you?

You'd definitely have to be inside the house to do it.

BambooButton, I think you should pop over to the PeriodProperty website and ask on their forum - they are specialists on historic and listed buildings over there. Prepare for some joshing about this bizarre idea, though!

Urgh - you haven't got them as well have you GM? I saw 3 yesterday. Disgusting things.

replies!!! i didn't think i would get any.

glad dh and i aren't the only ones completely baffled about how this is going to be done from the outside.

rentokil man said they no longer sprayed beams too as it was an elf an safety risk.

will check on period property website.

thanks everyone