Woodworm (Anobium punctatum)

Pest advice for controlling Woodworm

A term used for the destructive larvae of the Common Furniture Beetle. The first sign of woodworm is the appearance of neat round holes, 2mm across, in wooden surfaces, often accompanied by tiny piles of wood dust beneath them. Fresh holes show clean white wood inside. Emerging adult beetles make the holes. Immature grubs may still be tunnelling away inside the wood.

Remedy

Woodworm in furniture can be cured by application of proprietary woodworm killer. Coat all surfaces, polished and unpolished, and inject fluid into a few flight holes with a special injector. As a precaution against woodworm, you can buy an insecticidal polish.

Woodworm in structural timbers can be treated on a do-it-yourself basis, and the proprietary fluids used by the experts are available from builders’ merchants. All timbers must be cleaned down first, and any roof insulation material will have to be removed temporarily so that you can get at the joists to work on them. Also, this avoids the fire-risk of insulation becoming impregnated with the fluid or small polystyrene granules dissolving together.