Spray Treatments for timber

[Smiff]

Our house and barn have, according to survey, evidence of "capricornes" and "vrillettes" (no termites, I'm pleased to say).Our builder says he would not bother to treat timber if it was his house, as these are always present in Perigordian houses; Our 'notaire' said she did have beams treated in hers. 

Does anyone have any prior experience/advice, as we are unsure whether to get a company in or not (or whether it would be easy to do ourselves).  Our instinct (being the careful type) is to get something done about them in order to avoid problems in future.

Any comments gratefully received.

Smiff 

[Dj]

Hi Smiffy

Will give you my experiences regarding wood treatment,

The first property we put an offer on was riddled with termite,the Dordogne region has a serious problem re termites,when you see the damage they cause you will definatley require to protect your beams from attack,if as in our case they were allready established i would walk away.

Capricorn beetle is not as seriouse but can still create seriouse damage,beams should be treated.

We sprayed ours with Xylphene,the cause of most infestation is dampnes and no air move ment so make sure re your roof etc is sound and ventilate the areas of concern.

If you do your own spraying make sure you use all the correct protection a full face mask is a must they can be obtained from Srewfix for around £78 make sure you get the correct filter.

When treated the area must be left for about a week,due to fumes etc.

Hope this is of help, All the best DJ

[Frenchy]

Hi, we are located in the Dordogne and also have an infestation of Capricorns and vrillets. We were told that spraying would not be effective, that the wood would have to be injected. We have had several people come out to quote, they have all said it is not serious in our house where we have hardwood because they cannot eat the heart of hardwood. Whereas in our garage where softwood was used it could and is becoming serious. We want to treat the house as well because you can see the damage and can even hear them eating the wood  I would be very interested to know if just spraying the timber would be effective. The few quotes we have received are expensive albeit they do provide a 10 year guarantee. Would much prefer to spray ourselves if indeed it works in the long term.   P.S. Wish I knew what was going on with my print, can't seem to change to a smaller font.

[Alcazar]

Frenchy: have you had a look at the controls at the top of the box when making a reply? There are options for size, style, colour, font etc.

We have sprayed all existing woodwork within the house, twice, once with Screwfix dilute to taste stuff, and the second time, as there was still evidence, although MUCH less, with Xylophene.

Wife also spent HOURS painting new beams in barn with Xylophene lasure.

Seems to have done the trick.

Alcazar

[Frenchy]

Hi Alcazar, yes I have tried changing the font but the minute I start typing it automatically changes. I don't know why it would just be me having this problem. That is very interesting what you say about painting xylophene on because we have seen it for sale in the shops. However, we have even had a French Carpenter/Roofer that has no interest, meaning, does not do this sort of thing, tell us it does not work and that we would have to have injections. Would love to find out that he and others that told us this was wrong. Can I ask how long ago you treated and was your infestation mild or heavy? We do appear to have a very heavy infestation maybe that is the difference.