Is there a characteristic smell from a woodworm infestation?

Reason for asking - a house has a strange smell just inside the door. I have
recently fixed a leak on the central heating - but didn't notice a
particular smell from the leak - or the area of damp lath and plaster at the
other end of the house.

Knocking around the pipes caused some dust to fall from an open end of some
pipe boxing - near to the source of the smell - could this be evidence of
woodworm - or just old sawdust? Might disturbing the pipes have created a
slight leak elsewhere on the heating system and this is causing the smell?

Will go and investigate further tomorrow. Smell is a bit cabbagy / damp
nappy.

"John" wrote

Is there a characteristic smell from a woodworm infestation?

Reason for asking - a house has a strange smell just inside the door. I
have recently fixed a leak on the central heating - but didn't notice a
particular smell from the leak - or the area of damp lath and plaster at
the other end of the house.

Knocking around the pipes caused some dust to fall from an open end of
some pipe boxing - near to the source of the smell - could this be
evidence of woodworm - or just old sawdust? Might disturbing the pipes
have created a slight leak elsewhere on the heating system and this is
causing the smell?

Will go and investigate further tomorrow. Smell is a bit cabbagy / damp
nappy.
Our house had a long-term leak under the (concrete) floor when we took it on
5 years ago.
Many of the door frames and skirtings had rotted close to ground level and
needed replacing/patching.
Raking out the crumbly wood fragments released a distinctive musty smell
similar perhaps to what you describe.

Would be worth looking at woodwork close to the leak site and maybe
broggling with a screwdriver.
Some of our door frames looked OK at first glance, but a prod with a screw
driver exposed upto 6" of rot above ground level.

Phil

On 25 Oct, 13:42, "John" wrote:
Is there a characteristic smell from a woodworm infestation?

I'd say no but I don't have the best sense of smell. IMHE it is more
likely any smell is coming from other wood damage such as fungus decay
(dry or wet rot) which might also have associated woodworm
infestation.


Reason for asking - a house has a strange smell just inside the door.

//snip//


Will go and investigate further tomorrow. Smell is a bit cabbagy / damp

IMHO the underside of floors next to the ground without a sound dpc
under a good concrete base smell musty and awful, even thiough they
are the ultra modern fashion.

Suggest you check for damp seepage. If no concrete base you will need
to find ways of increasing the airflow across and between the air
bricks venting the underside of the floor.

An outside chance is a rotting dead mammal, such as a mouse or rat.


HTH

In article ,
"John" writes:
Is there a characteristic smell from a woodworm infestation?

Don't think woodworm smell, but they prefer wood with a high
moisture content, and such wood might smell.

Reason for asking - a house has a strange smell just inside the door. I have
recently fixed a leak on the central heating - but didn't notice a
particular smell from the leak - or the area of damp lath and plaster at the
other end of the house.

Knocking around the pipes caused some dust to fall from an open end of some
pipe boxing - near to the source of the smell - could this be evidence of
woodworm - or just old sawdust? Might disturbing the pipes have created a
slight leak elsewhere on the heating system and this is causing the smell?

Will go and investigate further tomorrow. Smell is a bit cabbagy / damp
nappy.

I might be concerned about dry rot from what you've said. That
has a smell. The spores make for an orange/brown dust (if it's
got as far as generating a fruiting body). Leaking pipework is
quite a common cause of dry rot.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

On 25 Oct, 13:42, "John" wrote:
Is there a characteristic smell from a woodworm infestation?

Reason for asking - a house has a strange smell just inside the door. I have
recently fixed a leak on the central heating - but didn't notice a
particular smell from the leak - or the area of damp lath and plaster at the
other end of the house.

Knocking around the pipes caused some dust to fall from an open end of some
pipe boxing - near to the source of the smell - could this be evidence of
woodworm - or just old sawdust? Might disturbing the pipes have created a
slight leak elsewhere on the heating system and this is causing the smell?

Will go and investigate further tomorrow. Smell is a bit cabbagy / damp
nappy.

Dear John
Answers respectively
No
Possibly but depends on dust - look under a x 10 lens and lood for
lemon shaped pellets
Even if it is WW the chances are that it is dead if the house is more
than 100 years old.
Don't know but unlikely.

Chris