Woodworm treatment

[The Bear]

Hi
I've just picked up some old joists to make into a cupboard top and shelves. I'm thinking it might be a good idea to treat them for worm just in case. Can anyone recommend what to use? Also, would I treat the wood before or after I've planed them up?

Cheers

Mark

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

I use cuprinol woodwork treatment. I would plane first for two reasons.

You don't want hideous bug killing chemical flying round your workshop

You will plane off the treated wood. Better to take surface off then the treatment will penetrate deeper

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

As a precaution (cos you also don't want a y surviving bug eggs flying round your workshop), can you plane them outdoors?

 

[hanser]

Mark
Unless you have reason to suspect woodworm ie holes and powder I would not bother using woodworm treatment. Plane them up and inspect them. If clear, you save your cash, time and avoid using rather nasty chemicals.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

+1 to that. I must say I had kind of assumed they were known to be present but fair point. Lets be sure before you start splashing that hideous poison around

 

[The Bear]

Ok guys, fair point. Other than the holes exactly what am I looking for and how do I know if I have them whether they are still live / active?

Mark

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Holes and what's called "frass". Which looks like very fine sawdust in little piles at the edge of some of the holes. Which I believe is the boring beetles excrement.....how pleasant

 

[Sgian Dubh]

Holes and what's called "frass". Which looks like very fine sawdust in little piles at the edge of some of the holes. Which I believe is the boring beetles excrement.....how pleasant

The beetles themselves don't bore Bob. It's the grub that bores during the larval stage which lasts up to two years, except at the very end when the grub turns into a mature beetle a millimetre or so under the wood surface. It then bites a way out of the wood. This new mature insect does not feed on the way out - it simply bites a hole through which to escape. Slainte.

 

[Sgian Dubh]

Ok guys, fair point. Other than the holes exactly what am I looking for and how do I know if I have them whether they are still live / active? Mark

You monitor the wood for about three to five years looking for signs of fresh exit holes and frass, and if need be treat it with permethrin type insecticides available from DIY stores. In truth, if you are putting this wood into a typical dry interior of a house where it's seldom likely ever to go above 12% MC you almost certainly won't have a common furniture beetle problem for long. The freshly hatched grub finds wood that's below 12% MC an especially harsh environment in which to survive.

If you store this wood you've acquired in a fairly cool unheated shed and it already has a common furniture beetle infestation it's possible the infestation could recur year after year because the adult beetle likes cool, relatively damp places in which to lay their eggs. Slainte.