• woodworm problems, dry rot specialists, wet rot pr

Based in Buckinghamshire covering whole of Aylesbury and beyond, Graham Warner is specialist in woodworm problems, wet & dry rot problems, cellar & rising damp rising.

The common Woodworm (Anobium Punctatum) is prevalent in the South of England, the adult beetle flies and lays 50-100 eggs in the wood. When the grubs hatch, they burrow into the wood for between 3 and 7 years and after pupation, emerge as adult beetles.The flight holes made as they do so are normally the first evidence of attack and it is therefore not possible to be certain that the timber is not infested unless it has been treated.It is important to differentiate the several other insects which occasionally attack the timber through bark and which are of no structural significance.Dry Rot (Serpula Lacrymans) is one species of fungus which needs to be carefully diagnosed because treatment must include sterilisation of infested masonry and complete eradication. The fungus has the ability to spread several feet away from any timber, through brickwork etc and thus, may infect timber on two or three different levels at a considerable distance from the source of attack.Wet Rot comprises of many species which should not be confused with Dry Rot, as the treatment involved is much less severe and therefore less costlyIn all cases it is important to identify the course of attack because a change in conditions will go a long way to arresting the outbreak. There has usually been a source of moisture and the correction of this should be a high priority, this will help prevent the spread of attack by germination of any of the millions of spores, which most fungi produce.If there is no damp-proof course at the base of the walls, dampness will rise from the ground and cause deterioration of the plaster and decoration. A chemical damp-proof course is injected to form an impervious barrier to the moisture so that once the wall has dried out, it will remain dry.