Wood worm

Hello all

I have a non gardening question for anyone who might be able to advise.

I am a keen collector of old bits of furniture so maybe I should have come across this before but for some reason I haven't.

I won an old hall cupboard on ebay and my OH went to get it yesterday. The description didn't mention worm holes... grrr. So it's a lovely cupboard - deco but one door has some worm damage. I haven't a clue if it's recent or old. About 15 holes at the foot of a door. I want to keep the piece of furniture but are there any DIY at home treatments I can apply? Would you keep it given that I have other wood pieces in the house? Does worm spread fast or not...

Thanks

Kate

 

I'm no expert on woodworm, but I've come across it on occasions.

There used to be chemicals available for treating worm infected timber, but I think that was mostly for structural timbers rather than furniture.
What is still available to the public these days is anybodys guess.

I also think certain types of worm attack certain types of timber, there are a few different beetles in the UK.

I think I'd try to determine if the worms were active before taking any steps, as you say, might just be very old worm holes.

 

Thanks Pete

I've done a bit of looking on the net and I guess I need to see if active or not. So I am going to block all the holes with beeswax and see if anything crawls. It seems woodworm like humidity as well and my house is fairly arid. All the chemicals I have seen are for dipping timber except for a spray can done by rentokill so might buy a can of that and spray in the inside of the door. The cupboard is not in great condition but really nice art deco design. I think it may have had some damp damage so it may have been stored in bad conditions in the past. So hopefully the worms have been and gone!

Kate

 

The first thing I'd suggest you do Kate is get that piece of furniture out of your house now, if you haven't already done so. Chances are they are old worm holes, but is it really worth taking the risk, because if they're not old, you could potentially, finish up with woodworm in the rest of your furniture.

Mr. F'smum often restores old pieces of furniture, and often they have worm holes too, so absolutely nothing comes into the house, but goes straight into the workshop, just in case. Having said that, it's fairly easy to tell whether woodworm are active or not - old holes will be clean, new holes will not, i.e., the holes recently created, will have tiny piles of sawdust nearby. The best way to be completely sure is to lay the cupboard down somewhere (preferably, on it's side with the door open and with a black bin-bag underneath) and just leave it alone for about 6 - 8 weeks - which is roughly how long any woodorm larvae are likely to take to hatch out. After that time, you can inspect both bin-bag and the inside surface of the door of your 'new' cupboard for the tell-tale 'sawdust'.

If you do notice fresh holes, there are plenty of treatments you can get from any DIY store.

 

You are right about the humidity, they will stop feeding if you get it dried out. Like has been said, chances are its old exit holes. You can get a woodworm killer which is painted on.

The preventative spray is useless if there already holes, as new beetles will use them to go down & lay eggs, rather than chew thru the toxic surface.