People often wonder what woodworm look like. The first signs of woodworm might be tiny tunnels and circular boreholes in your woodwork or furniture. Or you might notice small dust piles (frass) around your home or place of work.

I’m sure many people might imagine the indoor equivalent of a long wiggly garden worm eating away at the woodwork in our home or business, but the first stage of a woodworm infestation is actually caused by a beetle rather than a worm.

Woodworm beetle

Woodworm beetles fly into your property to lay their eggs, resulting in hatching larvae feasting on your woodwork to develop and grow. You may notice beetles on your window sills or them flying around lights and windows. Of course, at the time it is unlikely that you will associate these with woodworm until you see actual damage to the wood.

The most common types of woodworm beetles are:

• The deathwatch beetle
• The furniture beetle
• The longhorn beetle
• The powderpost beetle
• The wood boring weevil.

The beetles are usually small and dark in colour ranging from 3mm long to 20mm depending on the breed. The larvae are creamy-white, similar in shape to a small caterpillar.

The woodworm larvae live inside the wood, emerging from the surface when they have developed into a beetle. Woodworm beetles tend to be active from late spring, exiting the wood in the autumn ready for the mating season.

Although woodworm beetles are more active in the warmer months, they can quietly bore inside timber for years.

Woodworm in furniture

Each beetle has a preference for the type of wood it prefers depending on its breed, so you may find it in your wood furniture or it may be eating its way through floorboards, wooden joints, or the joists in your lofts. It is often associated with antique furniture acquired second hand.

One of our clients had purchased some Indian-style wooden chairs for their hairdressing salon. When holes appeared in them they called us in and we found death watch beetles had been boring their way through the wood. The chairs had been made from infested wood, and as woodworm has a 2-3 year lifecycle, or even more, they had been busy burrowing whilst the chairs were in use!

Holes and tunnels caused by woodworm can be anything from 2mm – 5mm in diameter, depending on the type of beetle. This results in overall weakening and substantial damage to the wood. 

Woodworm also enjoy dead wood, like old log piles which have a high moisture content, particularly timbers such as oak and beech.

Wordworm report in a house survey

We are often called when house purchasers receive a surveyor’s report which flags up signs of woodworm or wood-boring insects on the property they wish to buy. It could be in the loft, under floorboards or in an under-stairs cupboard. It often affects older buildings which are not so well insulated as newer homes.

It can affect any timber which is damp, as insects love wood with a high moisture content. So surveyors will raise the question in their report if they suspect insect activity so that the new owner doesn’t have to worry about weak timbers.

How we tell if woodworm are present

When we are asked to check for woodworm we are usually asked if it is ‘active’. So we will initially assess a property for evidence of woodworm activity, such as dust which is coming out of the bore holes. If we do find current infestations then we report to the client who can decide if they want it to be treated.

Woodworm treatment

Woodworms can eat their way through your timbers and furniture at an alarming rate. A woodworm infestation can cause serious structural and cosmetic damage to your property and furniture, and early diagnosis is important.

We use an insecticide to treat woodworm, which impregnates the wood so that it kills the insects within. We pay attention to the ends of the wood, to stop new infestations occurring.

We will treat all timbers in the property, so for example in the loft we will need access to all wooden beams. This is sometimes tricky if there are lots of things stored in the customer’s attic, which isn’t unusual!

Woodworm guarantee

Once we have treated a property we issue an insurance-backed guarantee. This will give the owner peace of mind that the woodwoom is no longer active and is guaranteed for 10 years. Our treatment generally lasts for much longer though.

Get in touch if you need help with woodworm

If you suspect woodworm, you need to get it investigated by a pest control expert. You may have a live infestation of woodworm that will need to be treated, or you could have inherited the problem from a previous owner who has already had the infestation dealt with. We can successfully evaluate and eliminate the problem for you.

Call us on 0333 600 6005 or email help@eradipest.co.uk and one of our friendly team will be able to help.