Sorry, I appreciate the word 'woodworm' is probably swearing around here!
I made a few chunky oak coffee tables about a year back and sold them to a few local 'friends of friends'.
One guy has come back to me 8 months after I delivered two tables to him, saying the following…
"I've discovered recently that one of the tables that you made for us has quite a bit of woodworm in one of the sections. I think that it must have been there since we got it from you, but I hadn't realised what the holes were until I researched it on the internet recently. From what I can see it seems to have affected one beam particularly badly, and the next one slightly (although I haven't taken the table apart to check if there's evidence in the other beams, which there may well be). The difficulty is that with the wood now well cracked there are probably eggs etc in the actual cracks which will then hatch and affect the other parts of the table".
Then…
"I've been looking at the tables more closely, and I think that they both have termites living in them as well! They are very small, light insects that keep appearing, and they fit the descriptions I've found of termites online. I'm pretty sure they're not responsible for the holes I've told you about previously, but are another problem which will need sorting quickly. When I pulled the beams apart, they have a lot of mould on the inside edges where the wood has been pushed up against another beam, is this normal? It seems from what I've seen online that termites are attracted to mouldy wood".
The tables are made from green oak, but this really is something I have never come across before, and only having made a few of these tables… I'm not sure if this is something that is 'my fault/problem' or if its something that could have come from the clients home? but then I guess it would be evident elsewhere?
If anyone can offer any advice it would be really appeciated, im not sure if I should collect the tables and treat them with something, or just give him his money back and destroy them… which would put me well 'out of pocket', but close the problem. arrrhhhh… really really confused about the whole situation!
I made a few chunky oak coffee tables about a year back and sold them to a few local 'friends of friends'.
One guy has come back to me 8 months after I delivered two tables to him, saying the following…
"I've discovered recently that one of the tables that you made for us has quite a bit of woodworm in one of the sections. I think that it must have been there since we got it from you, but I hadn't realised what the holes were until I researched it on the internet recently. From what I can see it seems to have affected one beam particularly badly, and the next one slightly (although I haven't taken the table apart to check if there's evidence in the other beams, which there may well be). The difficulty is that with the wood now well cracked there are probably eggs etc in the actual cracks which will then hatch and affect the other parts of the table".
Then…
"I've been looking at the tables more closely, and I think that they both have termites living in them as well! They are very small, light insects that keep appearing, and they fit the descriptions I've found of termites online. I'm pretty sure they're not responsible for the holes I've told you about previously, but are another problem which will need sorting quickly. When I pulled the beams apart, they have a lot of mould on the inside edges where the wood has been pushed up against another beam, is this normal? It seems from what I've seen online that termites are attracted to mouldy wood".
The tables are made from green oak, but this really is something I have never come across before, and only having made a few of these tables… I'm not sure if this is something that is 'my fault/problem' or if its something that could have come from the clients home? but then I guess it would be evident elsewhere?
If anyone can offer any advice it would be really appeciated, im not sure if I should collect the tables and treat them with something, or just give him his money back and destroy them… which would put me well 'out of pocket', but close the problem. arrrhhhh… really really confused about the whole situation!