So, replacing the rotten lintel above the dining room window turned out to be a larger operation – and not the simple task, Chris had predicted. In order to take the wooden lintel out and replace it with a concrete one, some serious tidying up of old bricks and badly laid cement around the edges of the window had to be done. In the end, it was a lot easier to take the whole window out! Having done that, we were able to closer inspect the areas around the rotten lintel – which, we soon realised, was not really rotten but saturated with woodworm. This was not good news. Especially since the joist above it, supporting the bedroom floor, looked to be infected too. To avoid further woodworm attack, which can seriously weaken the structure of a building, we must now treat all visible wood in the house and replace and treat the infected area.
"Woodworm is the term used to describe all kinds of woodboring insects…The adult insect is a brown beetle about 3mm (1/8 inch) long, but the damage is caused by its larvae, which feed on the sapwood of most household timbers. The beetle, which is most active in early summer, lays its eggs in the crevices of bare timber. When the grubs hatch, they burrow into the wood for up to three years, then pupate just below the surface. The new adult emerges by chewing its way out…There can be several generations of woodworm active inside the timber." (Collins Complete DIY Manual)