Woodworm

Worried about woodworm? Our woodworm guide provides all the help and advice you need to make sure your home is woodworm free!

We provide expert surveys to diagnose the problem and determine if the infestation is active or not, and if necessary, professional treatments specially designed to purge your property of woodworm with the minimum of fuss. Best of all, our woodworm treatments carry a 20 year guarantee for complete peace of mind.

If you have a woodworm problem our qualified surveyors and highly trained technicians are ready to help. Get in touch with the experts today by calling 0800 633 5712 or send us a message online using the form below.

Despite the name woodworm are not actually worms at all, rather it is the generic name for the larva of certain species of beetles. These larvae are small, wriggly and white, similar to maggots but slightly bigger with a curved “C-shaped” body. However, it is very rare that you will ever see a woodworm larvae, as they tend to stay burrowed in timber until they emerge as a fully grown beetle.

Woodworm go through different phases as they undergo their transformation into an adult, the life cycle of woodworm is as follows:

1. The adult beetle lays its eggs in crevices and open joints in wood
2. Larval grub spends years chewing through the wood feeding on cellulose and leaving it structurally weakened in the process
3. Larva forms pupation chamber near the surface where it will transform into a beetle
4. The adult beetle bores out of wood, mates and finds a wooden surface to begin the process all over again

You can see these stages animated below, or you may want to read more about the different stages of woodworm by taking a look at our woodworm life cycle page.

Signs of a woodworm infestation can be found anywhere there is timber in the home. Typically that could mean the roof rafters, floor joists, floor boards, skirting boards and of course any wooden furniture.

Identifying the signs of woodworm can be complicated as most people find that they first become aware that they have a woodworm problem when they spot the small round exit holes in their timber. Unfortunately this alone does not tell you if you still have an active infestation.

The biggest indicator of an active and present woodworm problem is evidence of ‘frass’ or bore dust beside the exit hole. To find out more about the signs of woodworm and identifying active infestation you can visit our signs of woodworm page. Alternatively, our woodworm beetles page will go into more detail on what the individual species of adult woodworm beetles look like, including:

• Common furniture beetle
• Death watch beetle
• Wood boring weevil
• House longhorn beetle

Our treatment process has been ratified by industry trade bodies such as the Property Care Association, Which? Trusted Trader and more to effectively eliminate woodworm in roofs, floors and staircases. With decades of experience solving woodworm problems in properties across the UK, our process gives you complete peace of mind that our woodworm treatment is safe, fast and reliable.

Our full and comprehensive woodworm treatment service includes.

• A survey by a local industry accredited surveyor to locate the infestation, determine whether it is active or not and identify accurately the species involved.
• Once an active woodworm infestation has been positively identified we offer woodworm treatment solutions that can be used on either bare wood OR painted or varnished wood.
• If  structurally necessary, infested timbers will be cut away and replaced, or economically repaired by skilled joiners using resin repair techniques.
• Our treatments are backed by real and meaningful 20 year guarantees.