# Woodworm in loft - how much to fix?



## raven (May 7, 2002)

I'm buying a house and there is extensive woodworm in the attic according to the survey, which needs fixing. I have tried a few companies but they won't give me any indication as to how much this will cost to fix - they want to do their own survey first.

I understand this, but I really want to get an idea as to how much it will cost as I may want to adjust the price I'm paying for the house. Does anyone have any idea of the sort of prices we're talking about here?


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## Toshiba (Jul 8, 2004)

I dont know for sure, but i'd ask for a price to re-roof the whole house and work on that as worse case.

As the vendor to pay for the repairs prior to purchase - its not your problem then.


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## TTonyTT (Apr 24, 2006)

raven said:


> I'm buying a house and there is extensive woodworm in the attic according to the survey, which needs fixing. I have tried a few companies but they won't give me any indication as to how much this will cost to fix - they want to do their own survey first.
> 
> I understand this, but I really want to get an idea as to how much it will cost as I may want to adjust the price I'm paying for the house. Does anyone have any idea of the sort of prices we're talking about here?


The only way that you'll get a sensible estimate is to get a company to survey the problem for you. If the current owners want to sell, then they should have no problem with the survey being carried out. Having an "official" estimate of the cost will also add some weight to your negotiations to get the price reduced.

No one's going to give you a price without looking at the problem - how could they?

Given that the wood in the attic is there to keep the roof on, and as "extensive" implies there's quite a lot of damage ... then it's going to cost aplenty. I'd expect well into the Â£ thousands.


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## Love_iTT (Aug 18, 2002)

It depends on the extent of the woodworm. When we bought our timber framed cottage 25 years ago it had some woodworm in the roof area and we had Rentokil to survey it and they managed to stop it completely with a 30 year warrenty as well. The wood wasn't bad enough to replace, just treat.

The biggest threat to any timber is dry rot, wood worm is not so bad if treated early enough.

Graham


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## raven (May 7, 2002)

Thanks all for replies - I've booked a survey for next week. Apparently the timbers will most likely not need replacing, but I won't know for sure until they've done the survey.


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## digimeisTTer (Apr 27, 2004)

Any more than Â£200 you're being ripped.

In 20 years i have never known "evidence of wood boring infestation" to require struts or perlins needing replacement.

trust me i'm an estate agent :lol: :wink:


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## raven (May 7, 2002)

digimeisTTer said:


> Any more than Â£200 you're being ripped.
> 
> In 20 years i have never known "evidence of wood boring infestation" to require struts or perlins needing replacement.
> 
> trust me i'm an estate agent :lol: :wink:


That sounds encouraging (the price, not the fact that you're an estate agent... :wink: )


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## gt russell (Nov 27, 2005)

Hi ,im a pest control officer and the advice i would give is to shop around the yellow pages and stay away from the big firms i cant menssion their names but they can charge you for allsorts of extras which you may not need , also try your local authority as they often do this sort of thing and it may be a great deal cheaper :wink:


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## garyc (May 7, 2002)

Love_iTT said:


> It depends on the extent of the woodworm. When we bought our timber framed cottage 25 years ago it had some woodworm in the roof area and we had Rentokil to survey it and they managed to stop it completely with a 30 year warrenty as well. The wood wasn't bad enough to replace, just treat.
> 
> The biggest threat to any timber is dry rot, wood worm is not so bad if treated early enough.
> 
> Graham


Agree with Graham. We had similar issue with sub floor timbers when we bought our new place in Dec. We did the quote bit - Rentokil etc, but in the end just asked the vedor to sort it out and provide the certificates etc. Which they did as they would have to do this anyway if the sale fell through.
As long as little or no structural timber needs replacing, it is just case of spraying poison on the woodwork. It's not that sophisticted a process.

Dry rot is the scary one. Run a mile if you detect any.

You should get the floors and staircases checked too for exit worm holes for peace of mind.


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## Captain Moonlight (Jan 19, 2007)

I sold a house last year that was "infested"...the estate agents instructed a company to carry out a FREE survey which came back as wood boring infestation at a TOTAL cost of Â£220... all that was needed was treatment to the timber ...couple of hours work .....incidentally i had lived there 8 years ..never saw a thing....

A free survey is the way to go......


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## FinFerNan (Feb 28, 2007)

Hi Raven - Building Surveyor here...

You are getting some good advice here. Get a proper survey and there's a good chance that it will be minimal work.

Unless you have hardwood timbers and live in the South, (ie Deathwatch infestation) Most "woodworm" ie Common Furniture Beetle, is a relatively minor problem (in my 30 years of experience)

However, left for a long time ie 30 years minimum, it is possible that timbers may need replacement. This should be picked up by the survey, so you are doing the right thing.


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