There are three types of woodworm in the UK. The common Furniture Beetle,  the House Longhorn Beetle and Death Watch Beetle. The last two are normally only found in the south of England leaving the common Furniture Beetle as the main cause of woodworm destruction in Scotland. Other less common wood boring insects can also make an appearance and can be identified by viewing the Woodworm Identifying Chart.

Damage by the furniture beetle is identifiable by a peppering of tiny holes in the surface of the wood. These holes are in fact emergence holes meaning that the adult beetle has emerged from and left the timber after spending its time tunnelling through it as a grub. 

The furniture beetle attacks  softwoods leaving 1-2mm exit holes in most softwoods. It prefers damp rather than dry wood and the grubs will head for, and stay in, plywood for longer than any other timber. Damp floorboards, damp loft timbers and old furniture a where the polished finish has worn off, (the furniture beetle prefers unfinished wood like old floorboards and loft rafters) are good targets for the beetle. The beetle lays its eggs on the timber and the grubs do the burrowing and tunnel about in the timber. With active woodworm there is a scattering of tiny dust piles on the timber. These are called frass. Structural weakening is rare with the furniture beetle except in timbers whose cross section is small and there is a lot of damp. In older houses for example, where the floor joists are near the ground and ventilation may have been blocked.

We offer a full service for the eradication of woodworm together with a 30 year guarantee.