Woodworm Treatments

Woodworm is a common name used to describe a number of wood boring insects. The insect larvae cause the damage by boring through the wood which weakens the structure.

Each year between May and October the Common Furniture Beetle, or Woodworm, exit from the timber. This is called the 'flight season' and is when the beetles bite their way through the surface of the timber making the recognisable small round holes. Once emerged the beetles mate and then the female lays her eggs, up to 80, in cracks and crevices on the wood. The egg hatches into a small larvae which then burrows through the wood for a period of -5 years, increasing in size as it eats the wood. The beetle will then move near to the surface of the wood and pupate into the adult beetle, and the whole cycle starts again.




The adult beetles are 3-5mm long and brown in colour with a 'hood' over their heads. It can be confused with other insects such as Biscuit beetles so expert identification is needed. You will often find them near windows as they are attracted to the light and around loft hatches.
 
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Adult Beetle

Woodworm Holes
Death Watch Beetle (Xestobium rufovillosum)

This wood-boring insect is related to the Common Furniture Beetle, but is much larger. Its flight-hole is large and round (3mm diameter) and its bore dust is coarse and bun shaped. The larvae of this beetle are usually found in decaying oak, and the life cycle from egg to adult can be as short as four years. In dry, sound wood the larvae may tunnel for up to twelve years before pupating. As with most other wood-boring insects, it is the larvae, feeding on the timber, which do all the damage. Eventually the larvae pupate and turn into beetles, which emerge from the wood, mate, and the cycle starts again. The female lays up to 200 eggs. Whilst generally attacking hardwoods only, this wood boring insect has been known to feed upon decaying softwood timbers. The well-known tapping, caused by the head of the beetle is a mating call during the flight season (typically March-June). This insect is often found in churches hence the association with death reflected in its name.
House Longhorn Beetle (Hylotrupes bajulus)

This wood-destroying insect attacks seasoned softwoods laying its eggs in the cracks and crevices of wood. The eggs hatch out within about three weeks into grubs or larvae.
The larvae tunnel through the wood and can eat their own length once a day. Since near maturity they are about 25mm long, the damage caused by these insects can be enormous. After tunnelling for some 4 to 7 years, the adult beetle emerges from the wood during the mating season, leaving the characteristic oval flight-hole which may be up to 10mm long and 6mm wide. After mating, one beetle can lay as many as 200 eggs. In Great Britain this insect is found mainly in Surrey and Hampshire. 
Wood-boring weevil (Euophryum confine)

This is a wood-boring insect somewhat similar in appearance and size to the Common Furniture Beetle. There are over 50,000 species of Weevil and all have long snouts. It also differs in that it will only attack timber which is already decayed by wood-rotting fungi. The Weevil is prolific and is known to have up to two complete life cycles in one year. Its presence may therefore be accompanied by serious structural collapse of timber due to fungal decay.

The Weevil prefers sappy early-wood where both adult and larvae tunnel, forming slot-like galleries in the timber and irregular flight-hole on the surface of about 1.5mm wide.