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If you say where you are people will be better able to to help you.

The South-West covers a large area.

Thanks for the information about the Queen although I believe most members of this board will know it already.

Hoddy
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Hi Tants, we have received a few quotes and they are very expensive. I would love to think we could do it ourselves by painting xylophene on but we have been told that the wood must be injected to be effective. We were told painting it on does not get rid of the Capricorne inside the wood. Is this true?
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hi

if you are anywhere near Toulouse I can heartily recommend the chaps who did out beetle kill - and they used environmentally friendly products (ie so's not to get into the food chain or harm bats or birds) AND they came when they said and cleaned up afterwards AND they weren't frightfully expensive...!

Capricorn are house longhorn beetle, which you can get in south-eastern England, too.

Contact me for the name and number of the chaps.

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[quote]Hi Tants, we have received a few quotes and they are very expensive. I would love to think we could do it ourselves by painting xylophene on but we have been told that the wood must be injected to be ...[/quote]

You are correct in what you say you have to inject and spray to get rid of all these bugs effectively! We went to a large national company the last time we went through this process as it is a continuous battle, one treatment is not the end! If I remember correctly, it is every 5 years for beams and every 10 years for the walls and ground!

This last time, we were very pleased with the product they used as it was not as vile smelling as the old stuff. They tried to pass it off as environmentally friendly but we had our doubts about that! You have to keep an eye on the work though as they said on the quote the beams had to be injected from both sides because they are very thick and we discovered when my husband shinned up the ladder that they had not done the treatments on the side you cannot see from the ground. They probably thought that the elderly English gent would shell out his euros without recourse to ladders! So they were disappointed and had to come back and do the job they had charged for despite them saying to us they did not need to as we had the guarantees and if the bugs returned, they would come back to re-treat!

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We had Capricorns, as well as the usual woodworm in our house in the Limousin. I sprayed everything, and although I'm no expert, all seemed fine afterwards. Note I said spray, not paint, as it gets deeper into all the cracks and splits in the wood. Sometimes I think these companies tend to prey on your fears, and charge a fortune. Having said that, products like xylophene aren't cheap.
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I am in the process of buying a house near Carcassonne, but the inspection has indicated evidence of capricorn beetles in a veranda. The inspector did not regard it as a matter of any great concern and said that in most houses in the area he would find evidence of capricorns.

How serious are capricorn beetles and can anybody give me an idea of how much treatment costs?
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Mike

There are two schools of thought, one is that capricorn only infest the outer "layer" of wood, take years to do any damage and so are relatively harmless, they used to just hack off the affected wood in the old days.

The other view is that they are large woodworm and can do serious damage, I subscribe to the latter view and have some oak beams eaten through, perhaps over many years by capricorn grubs and fly.  Treatment costs depends on the size of the area to be treated and methods required, have a survey done, they are normally free and without obligation, you will also find out if you have termites, I have and must be the first house in the area to  be affcted, the surveyor thinks that it is possible that the wood was infested prior to use as we are not in a known "termite" area.

If you PM me I'll give you the name of the people from Toulouse who did my work.

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[quote]Mike There are two schools of thought, one is that capricorn only infest the outer "layer" of wood, take years to do any damage and so are relatively harmless, they used to just hack off the affected...[/quote]

The firm that did our treatment were Pellin, they are a national company, and they say you can live in the house whilst the treatment is on-going.
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  • 1 month later...

I too have discovered bugs.  We have just bought a house in the Tarn et Garonne.  Whilst starting a loft conversion, I heard the horrible annoying grinding noises within the rafters and beams.  Further inspection revealed plenty of fresh sawdust.  I dug into the beams and found one live slim black beetle with split wings.  It was only about 10 millimetres long with a whitish undercarriage.  In a similar area within the trenches, I also found a white larva grub which was bigger than the beetle.  Can anyone identify these.  I have tried sites on the internet without much success (more likely due to my poor internet skills !).  Are they termites ?  Are they Capricorn ?  And if they are termites, do I have any recourse on the inspector who declared it termite free at the Notaires last month ? 

Any replies would be most appreciated. 

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It sounds very much like you have the dreaded Minuteus Fluk Beetles! These are very rare indeed, and should be harvested and preserved for future generations to see. These were last seen in Coventry in 1947 in Gulson road Hospital where they multiplied in a patients large toe.

They are extremely destructive to wood and woodchip wallpaper, and should be removed with caution and great care so as not to harm them, they are a protected species and you could be prosecuted if they are damaged.

What happened to the "fart" in We All Fart??

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[quote]It sounds very much like you have the dreaded Minuteus Fluk Beetles! These are very rare indeed, and should be harvested and preserved for future generations to see. These were last seen in Coventry i...[/quote]

All these bugs and 'betes' are the price of living in the beautiful French countryside! We discovered this time that something had fallen through the large gap round the bathroom ventilation pipes leading to the roof cavity. (The closing off of this gap has been a 'round-to-it' job for a long time - too long!) The wretched thing had stripped off the wall paper and 'committed atrosities' on the chest of drawers! It was not pleasant clearing it up I can tell you! Whether it was a marten or a squirrel, I do not know but come Monday we will close off the gap permanently!
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