We have just found active woodworm in the floorboards in our kitchen and Hall. The damage in each site is limited to 0.5 meter square, but some of the boards have been reduced to dust. We intend to expose and varnish the floor, so assume that we need to replace the damaged boards. My concern is treating the timber - how do we do this? Do we need to treat ALL of the timber or just that surrounding the active site? Do we need to treat the floor joists - will we need to lift the whole floor?? Also, we have a 1yr old baby in the house so I worry about the safety of any treatments we use. Can anyone help???
Treating Active woodworm with baby in house
- Thread starter JVH
- Start date
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JVH - how do you know it's active? Do you live in an old house?
If the boards are too far gone then replace ... but replace with what? As you are going to expose & varnish any new wood will look odd. One trick is to lift some boards from elsewhere in the house (bedroom under carpet say) and use these for the repair as they are likely to be the same vintage as the knackered stuff, this should give you a decent match (obviously the new stuff goes in the bedroom where it won't be seen) Otherwise you'll have to stain match before the varnish.
Treat new and neighbouring timbers (including structural timber) with a water-based (not solvent based) low odour fluid. No real need to do the whole floor, lift a couple of adjacent boards to gain access to joists and below. A garden pump spay will by OK to apply the juice.
If the boards are too far gone then replace ... but replace with what? As you are going to expose & varnish any new wood will look odd. One trick is to lift some boards from elsewhere in the house (bedroom under carpet say) and use these for the repair as they are likely to be the same vintage as the knackered stuff, this should give you a decent match (obviously the new stuff goes in the bedroom where it won't be seen) Otherwise you'll have to stain match before the varnish.
Treat new and neighbouring timbers (including structural timber) with a water-based (not solvent based) low odour fluid. No real need to do the whole floor, lift a couple of adjacent boards to gain access to joists and below. A garden pump spay will by OK to apply the juice.
Hi - Thanks so much for your response. It is definitely active woodworm - there are little deposits of saw dust at each hole, and even a beetle or two scurrying about! We will need to replace some of the boards as they have been reduced to dust, and intend to source some reclaimed boards from a local timber yard.
I have come across a water based treatment called Boron - have you ever heard of it? I have had conflicting reports on how long you must vacate the area post treatment, ranging from 1hr to 24hrs. Does anybody know when it is safe to re-enter the property after treating it with a waterbased woodworm killer?
I have come across a water based treatment called Boron - have you ever heard of it? I have had conflicting reports on how long you must vacate the area post treatment, ranging from 1hr to 24hrs. Does anybody know when it is safe to re-enter the property after treating it with a waterbased woodworm killer?
just bear in mind that the rest of your house may well have active woodworm in it aswell.
ive been using some boron chemical today,on the container it stated 8 hrs,
contact a local preservation firm to see if they could offer you some advice/chemical?
ive been using some boron chemical today,on the container it stated 8 hrs,
contact a local preservation firm to see if they could offer you some advice/chemical?
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JVH - just read your most recent post. Cos you've got 'live ones' running about spay the whole floor. Lift every 4th/5th board to gain access to whole area below. Remember the adult beetles (they don't damage the timber) are out there looking to mate, the female lays her eggs in the wood and its the larvae that munches.
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