Woodboring Insects

Woodboring Insects Services

Woodboring insects use wood as a food source or as a home, creating holes and tunnels in the timber, which over time can greatly reduce the strength of the infested wood.

Treating Woodboring Insects

Rentokil's woodworm treatments provide specialist services to protect your property and wood furnishings from the damage caused by wood boring insects.

Identifying Woodboring Insects

Image of Common Furniture Beetle from Rentokil

Common Furniture Beetle (Anobium punctatum)

This beetle is by far the most common wood boring insect found in British buildings. The small holes made by the beetles as they emerge from wood are typically seen in old furniture and in the structural timbers of buildings.

Deathwatch Beetle (Xestobium rufovillosum).

Image of Death Watch Beetle from Rentokil

The Death Watch Beetle is an indigenous British insect that has been well known for hundreds of years. Death Watch Beetle has a strong preference for hardwood timbers such as oak, ash and chestnut that have been attacked by wood- rotting fungi. Its occurrence is therefore largely restricted to churches, stately homes and other ancient buildings, principally in Southern and Central England.

Find out more about other Wood boring beetles and Wood-damaging insects such as House Longhorn Beetle, Powder Post Beetle and Woodboring Weevil from our comprehensive Pest Guides.

Download further technical information on our Woodboring Insects Treatments (pdf).