Woodworm sprayers of the world unite

[Gabe]

Those of you who have spray treated woodworm yourself please advise what type of spray pump is best to use. Many have cited the garden , hand pumped , type which are nice and cheap. Or should I go down the slightly higher spec route of an electric powered sprayer, Screwfix have these from £12 - £60. What do you think ?

For those of you who do not agree with doing it yourself, your views are respected, but I am going to do it anyway !

Gabe

[powerdesal]

Gabe,

I dont think you will find a difference in application between the

manual one and the electric. Its just less physical with electric ones.

I think the manual ones from farmers stores are a higher quality than

the B&Q / Homebase garden variety. Around 25 to 30 pounds I think.

Regards

[Alcazar]

I agree with the above post.

Also, electric sprayers tend to hold less, so refilling is a pain.

We bought a decent quality garden sprayer from a local builders merchants, cost about €30. So far, it's sprayed woodworm treatment and weedkiller, both with some success it would seem.

Alcazar

[andyh4]

9€99 hand sprayer (5l) worked fine for me and the work involved in pumping it up every 2l or so is frankly not a lot.

The only possible drawback of an electric one that I can see is that if you are doing roof beams and wood ceilings (and most of us are), you will have some of the spray falling back onto the electric gubbins.  No big deal to cover it of course.

 

 

[Gabe]

Thanks,

Just another question, how long do you leave between "coats" ? I know that you should re-apply before the last coat has finished. How long is this ?

Gabe

[Dave&Olive]

hi

           think you will find the leccky type sprayer  will make to fine of a mist for the treatment,  best to use garden sprayer .     a cheap back pack one are great......

                                     dave

[andyh4]

Gabe

regarding re-coating - do the subsequent coats before the previous one dries.  This way the liquid is frced deeper into the wood

 

 

[Gabe]

Andy,

Any idea how long to leave between coats ? Reason I ask, is that I am planning to do at the end of a two week stay. So intend to spray everything and stay in a local hotel for a couple of nights, so that I do not have to sleep in a respirator.

Gabe

[napoleon]

I can only report on using a "Cuprinol" sprayer. This cost about £25 from B&Q and is a manual pump-up type. It certainly looks like my garden spray but the construction and performance is far superior. The fluid I used is called Xylophene, available in most DIY stores. To preserve my sanity I paid the extra for a variant labelled "without odour" and even so it was an uncomfortable experience.

I used it to treat all the grenier timbers and spent an uncomfortable week dressed in makeshift safety wear. I should have invested in proper overalls,mask, gloves and headgear. The spray was easy to control but rather tedious when it needed pumping while on the top of a ladder. I like the idea of an electric spray but would wait to see one in action before buying anything expensive. Remember to keep the spray nozzle clean using white spirit.

The main downside of DIY is the lack of any guarantee for future sale. I was more interested in preventing any damage during our occupation.

                                             Alistair

[andyh4]

Gabe - basically when I got to the end, I started again - so I would guess between 1 hour (house) and 2,5 hours (barn)..  You really need to do it the same day, because once it starts to dry you loose some of the benefits. 

 

Oh and re- Alistair's comments - full safety equipment - especially the mask which must be for aerosols and not just the pad over the nose type - which is for dust.  This is your health you are dealing with and without you will be breathing in chemicals (poisons) deep into the lungs.

[Gabe]

Andy,

Thanks again that makes sense. I'll have to do small areas at a time, complete them and then move on to the next. Thanks again for the advice.

Gabe

[Dave&Olive]

hi

           if you use say a back pack sprayer ,and you are going to treat a hungrey dry oak beam say 250x250 x 4000 long buy the time you get to the end the begining will be dry, the knowing when to stop equation comes into mind ...... you will learn ..... very quick.......

                       dave

[Ron Avery]

What is the point in recommending a tool for doing something that is completely ineffective? If the posters of recommendations for garden etc sprays  knew anything about wood treatment in France and in particular of beams and roof timbers, their first post would be DON'T bother spraying beams, it just doesn't work and is a waste of time and money.

If you really think spraying woodworm killer on an oak beam is protection, dream on.  If your pressure spray goes an inch or 25mm into a beam you will be lucky.

Modern woodworm klllers available in France,like zylephene are fairly odourless in a ventilated atmosphere and are effective on boards etc for woodworm, capricorn and termites, the number of coats depends on the use, preventative or cure, with spraying only one coat is necessary on new wood for woodworm protection, two or three coats are necessary for curing woodworm or capricorn. For protection on oak and other hard wood beams there is only one effective treatment and that is pressue injection, nothing else works. 

[Gabe]

Ron,

As I said at the very start of this thread, I respect the views of those who do not agree  with this approach, nevertheless this is what I am going to do. The contrary approach has been covered in much detail in previous postings in which I believe you have fully partcipated.

Gabe

[Ron Avery]

Gabe I understood your point and if you are spraying boards then there is nothing wrong with D-I-Y , although I would expect any sprayer to be worthless after use with a wood treatment product, but if you are spraying beams then  you are spraying money into thin air.  But as you say its your choice..  I hope you are far, far away from the nearest termite and they are not reading this thread.[:D]

[andyh4]

Ron

not all beams are Oak and Chestnut.  My Garden sprayer is still going strong 2 years after being used for woodworm treatment - just wash it out thoroughly after use. 

 

For the record, three coats applied as I suggested, achieved an across the grain penetration of over 25mm on tight grained softwood using the oil (?) based liquids.  Water based solutions are not so effective.  Along the grain would have been much more, but I had no way of testing that since everything was already drenched.  Certainly hardwoods are not going to be so deeply penetrated, but provided that all surfaces (including those in joints) are thoroughly wetted, you will kill any beetle emerging and dead beetles do not reproduce to give new worm.  Cycle broken.  Maybe not quite as effective as killing them deep in the wood but dead is dead.

Against termite, I would agree the only way to go is professional deep layer injection, but for woodworm, provided the access is reasonable, a DIYer can do a thorough job.