Should I buy a house with woodworm?

In this brief guide, we discuss the question “ should I buy a house with woodworm?”

Buying a house with woodworm requires serious considerations to avoid buying a house which may require extensive repairs or may invalidate your home insurance or possibly even raise your home insurance premium if you have to claim on it.  

It may also be possible that after providing you with a mortgage offer or mortgage in principle the mortgage lender discovers that you have woodworm through the property survey and withdraws their mortgage offer.  

Some mortgage lenders may also insist that the woodworm is treated before they will allow you to complete on the mortgage. Most woodworm treatments will have a 30-year guarantee which gives the mortgage lender and you some peace of mind.

The only upside with buying a house with woodworm is that you may be able to negotiate a much better price with the seller due to the infestation.

Should I buy a house with woodworm?

You should not buy a house with woodworm unless you understand the extent of woodworm and you have certainty of what the woodworm treatment costs will be. 

Woodworm could cause your roof to begin to lose its structural integrity or cause your foundation to begin to sink lower and lower into the ground. 

This is why it is essential to get a property survey before you buy a house to ensure that the property you are buying isn’t infested with woodworm and if it is infested with woodworm to ensure you know how much woodworm is in the property and what the cost of treating the woodworm would be before you decide if you should buy a house with woodworm.

What is woodworm?

Woodworm is a Larvae which is left behind by wood-boring beetles of varying species. In the United Kingdom the most common wood-boring species which leaves behind this larvae are the House Longhorn Beetle (Hylotrupes bajulus)  Deathwatch Beetle (Xestobium rufuvillosum), Common Furniture Beetle (Anobium punctatum) and Powderpost Beetle (Lyctus brunneus). 

These woodboring species invade wood, eat the wood and then leave once they have reached a mature age. The only issue is that they leave behind their larvae which then repeat the process until woodworm treatment is done.

How to check if a house has woodworm?

You should check if a house has woodworm before you decide if you should buy a house with woodworm.

The most efficient way to do this is by carrying out a property survey. This will ensure that if you end up finding woodworm in the future and the property survey report indicated that there was no woodworm then the liability will be on the property survey company if you can prove that the woodworm would have been present when they carried out their survey checks.

You can check for woodworm yourself but it may be hard to diagnose if you do not have adequate experience of what to look for. Woodworm could be present in a home for many years without it being noticeable and woodworm doesn’t just affect old homes, it can also affect very new homes.

If you are deciding if you should buy a house with woodworm then you should check to see if it has woodworm yourself by doing the below:

Tip: remember the woodworm eggs or larvae may be so small that you will not notice them at first glance.

What are the signs of woodworm infestation?

You may find very small holes on your wood which maybe the size of a pen tip

You may find that these holes have some sort of dust or powder around their entrance. This is known as frass or bore dust. 

These are the droppings which are produced by the woodworm larvae as they dig and chew their way through your wood.

You may also see some of the adult wood-eating beetles emerge from some of the holes and go about their business. 

You may even see them at other parts of the house, away from the holes.

In some cases, you may not even find or see any holes but you will notice bore dust or frass on the floor or falling from the outer side of the wood. This signifies that there is a woodworm problem in the house.

You may also begin to notice that some edges or joints of wooden structures begin to appear crumbly.

You should note that not all of the above may indicate that there is an active woodworm situation in the home you want to buy. It could very well be the case that the woodworm has left and this is jus evidence from a previous woodworm infestation.

What to do before you by a house with woodworm?

If you are considering if you should buy a house with woodworm and you have discovered some of the signs above then there are a few things you could write down as your action plans once you have purchase the house or before.

Before you purchase the house you could decide to carryout a more thorough survey with a property survey company and ask them to focus especially on the woodworm so you can know the extent of the infestation before you buy the house. Once you have the property survey you can then decide on if to buy a house with woodworm or not.

If you decide to buy a house with woodworm then below are a few things you can do to ensure your house is in the best shape.

Test the humidity of your house

You should check to see what the humidity of your house is and then look to increase it if it needs to be increased. 

The wood boring beetles thrive when the moisture content in the house is above 20% although they may be able to exist with moisture as low as 12% for a limited period of time.

You should measure the humidity of the wood in your house using a timber moisture metre

A moisture level below 11% will be ideal so that any colonies of wood-eating beetles will slowly die out.  You should look to keep the humidity levels as low as possible and replace any infested wood structure which has been infested by woodworm to reduce ts ability to spread to other parts of the house.   You should also look to install electric fly traps which will kill any adult beetles which are emerging from the loft or places which are ventilated as the beetles will usually go to these cooler areas during the summer months.

Get a professional entomologists to evaluate

Getting a professional entomologist to evaluate the extent of the woodworm infestation before you buy a house with woodworm or prior to treating a house you have bought with woodworm is always a good idea as they will be able to define the type of treatment needed 

and at what cost.

It may be the case that the woodworm in your home does not need any treatment as it is not harmful.

Block the entry holes

Another thing you can do is block the holes which the grown beetles make when they go out to breed during the months of May and September. You can block the holes using masking tape, or painting it over with a coat emulsion. You should do this during the winter months.

Figure out the cost of repairs

Once you have established that a house you want to buy has woodworm you should then enquire from different vendors about the total cost of the woodworm treatment. If this cost is way beyond what you can afford to pay then you should consider if you should buy a house with woodworm or not.

It is very possible that the woodworm could spread to other parts of the house if not properly treated or the woodworm could return if the conditions are right for it.

The most important parts of the house which you should consider when looking at the woodworm damage are the joints, the roof and any suspended floor as these parts of the house cold cos significantly more to replace if the woodworm infestation has made them unsafe.

Above are the steps you can take after you have bought a home with Woodworm. If you dint feel sufficient or capable of taking these steps then you should consider if buying a house with woodworm is a good idea.

Woodworm treatment

There are different methods of woodworm treatment, they include:

Freezing: You can freeze some woodworm infested furniture to treat it.

Pesticides: You could also use pesticides and apply it to different affected surfaces to kill any adult beetles which come out.

Fumigation – Fumigation may also be relevant, especially for Deathwatch Beetle infestation in large structural hardwoods. 

You should consider the above treatment before buying a house with woodworm.

FAQs about buying a house with woodworm

Below are some of the frequently asked questions in relation to buying a house with woodworm.

In this brief guide discussed the question “ should I buy a house with woodworm “. If you have any questions or comments please let us know.

If you need financial advice and you live in the UK then you could contact the Money Advice service over the phone or via chat for impartial advice.

You can also contact the debt charity “Step Change” if you are in debt and need help.