Hi All,
I have just discovered my sofa is infested (big time) with WoodWorm (it
collapsed!).
It's now sat in the garden waiting for cremation; I have had a good look
around the rest of the room (had a good clean-up) and can find no other
evidence, should I be woried about the flooring joists, roof timbers, other
furnature etc?

Would it cost much to get the house fumigated just in case?

Many thanks for any advice.

"Connan the Stamp Collector" Nospam wrote in message
...
Hi All,
I have just discovered my sofa is infested (big time) with WoodWorm (it
collapsed!).
It's now sat in the garden waiting for cremation; I have had a good look
around the rest of the room (had a good clean-up) and can find no other
evidence, should I be woried about the flooring joists, roof timbers,
other
furnature etc?

Would it cost much to get the house fumigated just in case?

Probably wouldn't help at the moment as they've all just 'flown the nest'.
Key thing is to stop them returning later this year.

On Thu, 16 Jun 2005 20:35:07 +0100, "Connan the Stamp Collector"
Nospam wrote:

I have just discovered my sofa is infested (big time) with WoodWorm

What sort ? Got any bodies ? Got a hole diameter ?

Get out to a garden hardware shop and get yourself some yellow sticky
fly papers. Try and catch them quickly, before they get to laying more
eggs.

If your sofa got to the point of collapse though, they've probably been
emerging for a year or two.

Would it cost much to get the house fumigated just in case?

Fumigation won't help - needs to be liquid, applied in the right
location. You're going to have to watch out for boreholes and frass
appearing (for a couple of years), then spray as needed.


The real hazard depends on the species, the timber species of your sofa,
and the timber species of any attractive food timber nearby.

--
Cats have nine lives, which is why they rarely post to Usenet.

Connan the Stamp Collector wrote:
Hi All,
I have just discovered my sofa is infested (big time) with WoodWorm (it
collapsed!).
It's now sat in the garden waiting for cremation; I have had a good look
around the rest of the room (had a good clean-up) and can find no other
evidence, should I be woried about the flooring joists, roof timbers, other
furnature etc?

Would it cost much to get the house fumigated just in case?

Many thanks for any advice.

woodworm only live in damp wood, the way to get rid of them is to fix
any damp problem. The question is why was your sofa damp.

Fumigation etc is neither the solution nor an especially good idea.


NT

On 16 Jun 2005 16:28:03 -0700, wrote:

woodworm only live in damp wood,

Not true. Some (powder post beetles, for example) are quite happy to lay
into dry timber.

the way to get rid of them is to fix
any damp problem.

That's woodlice, not woodworm.

wrote:

woodworm only live in damp wood, the way to get rid of them is to fix
any damp problem. The question is why was your sofa damp.

I've had them in kiln dried timber so the damp-wood thin is utter
........... rot!

On Thu, 16 Jun 2005 20:35:07 +0100, "Connan the Stamp Collector"
Nospam wrote:

Hi All,
I have just discovered my sofa is infested (big time) with WoodWorm (it
collapsed!).
It's now sat in the garden waiting for cremation; I have had a good look
around the rest of the room (had a good clean-up) and can find no other
evidence, should I be woried about the flooring joists, roof timbers, other
furnature etc?

Would it cost much to get the house fumigated just in case?

Many thanks for any advice.

Hi,

Could be the sofa frame was made of ash which woodworm love. Have a
careful look at the floor particularly where the feet of the sofa
were.

Probably worth taking some boards up to see if there are any holes
between board and joist. The worms don't emerge from wood until they
turn into flying things.

cheers,
Pete.

Pete C wrote:
snip


Probably worth taking some boards up to see if there are any holes
between board and joist. The worms don't emerge from wood until they
turn into flying things.

Also, AIUI the lifecycle of beetle is several years (but varies on
species). So it would be worth keeping an eye out for flight holes /
debris for some time to come.


cheers,
Pete.

HTH,

Alex.

GymRatZ wrote:
wrote:

woodworm only live in damp wood, the way to get rid of them is to fix
any damp problem. The question is why was your sofa damp.


I've had them in kiln dried timber so the damp-wood thin is utter
.......... rot!


Even kiln dried timber has moisture content (usually 10% IIRC).

My house had been in the past liberally peppered with "woodworm", some
historic signs of deathwatch beetle too, it may have been damp at some
point, true, but we also found some active stuff in some fairly dry
areas of the house.

HTH,

Alex.

GymRatZ wrote:
wrote:

woodworm only live in damp wood, the way to get rid of them is to fix
any damp problem. The question is why was your sofa damp.

I've had them in kiln dried timber so the damp-wood thin is utter
.......... rot!


kiln dried timber is sometimes damp. It may get left outside while a
lot is moved, and it may be raining at the time. Or it may be stored in
a building that is not dry. Kiln dried merely means it was kiln dried,
it doesnt guarantee ongoing dryness.


NT

You don't usually see the beetles themselves, if it's common furniture
beetle yo uare talking about. The man from protim who did a
de-infestation job for me said he had bee n doing it for years and had
only ever seen a beetle in the laboratory.
House structural timbers these days are impregnataed against attack
but in older houses they might not be.

R

wrote:
You don't usually see the beetles themselves, if it's common furniture
beetle yo uare talking about. The man from protim who did a
de-infestation job for me said he had bee n doing it for years and had
only ever seen a beetle in the laboratory.
House structural timbers these days are impregnataed against attack
but in older houses they might not be.

R

I lived in a scabby student flat once that had two wardrobes and a table
riddled with the things. We moved in in the September and were amazed
at how many of what we considered to be dead flies there were about the
place. The next year at the start of summer it became aparrent where
they were comming from. If you watched the exit holes for a bit you
wouldn't have to wait long before you'd see one of the beetles emerge.
There were hundreds of them and they would crunch if you squashed them.
It got to the point where we put the wardrobes and the table in one
room and left them to it.

"Richard Conway" ShoobiddyDoobiddyDoopDoopDoopWah@com wrote in message
...


I lived in a scabby student flat once that had two wardrobes and a table
riddled with the things. We moved in in the September and were amazed at
how many of what we considered to be dead flies there were about the
place. The next year at the start of summer it became aparrent where they
were comming from. If you watched the exit holes for a bit you wouldn't
have to wait long before you'd see one of the beetles emerge. There were
hundreds of them and they would crunch if you squashed them. It got to the
point where we put the wardrobes and the table in one room and left them
to it.

I like the idea of sacrifical wardrobes!

Mary

wrote in message
oups.com...


woodworm only live in damp wood,

WHAT???

"Richard Conway" ShoobiddyDoobiddyDoopDoopDoopWah@com wrote in message
news:42b2e593$0$23946

I lived in a scabby student flat once

I can't resist ... why were the students scabby?

Mary

wrote:

kiln dried timber is sometimes damp. It may get left outside while a
lot is moved, and it may be raining at the time. Or it may be stored in
a building that is not dry. Kiln dried merely means it was kiln dried,
it doesnt guarantee ongoing dryness.

but there is a significant difference between "damp" and what 99.9% of
folks would call "dry". IMO if you need an electronic gizmo to measure
the moisture content then the wood is far from "damp" , and what I'd
term damp would subsequently become dry once placed in a non-damp
environment. i.e. taken out of the rain.

--
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wrote:

kiln dried timber is sometimes damp. It may get left outside while a
lot is moved, and it may be raining at the time. Or it may be stored in
a building that is not dry. Kiln dried merely means it was kiln dried,
it doesnt guarantee ongoing dryness.

That's true - but the kiln drying forces water out from the centre of the
wood and any subsequenct dampening, assuming it hasn't been left in a
puddle, should only penetrate the surface leaving a dry and strong core.