Fine, light frass under the beam
A small pile of dust the colour of fresh wood under a hole, reappearing days after you clean it. That is the activity marker. Holes alone can sit there for forty years without a single live insect left.
Woodworm treatment in Calonge i Sant Antoni
A floor structure measured and numbered piece by piece, limewash stripped wherever it is found and treatment floor by floor so the house stays in use.
Visual assessment visit included, at no cost and with no obligation. The technical study with audiotermes, which confirms every point of damage, is quoted separately and you decide with the figure in front of you. We work Monday to Saturday.
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In Calonge i Sant Antoni woodworm is discovered late because a good part of the housing stock is not lived in all year round. Idescat counts 22,051 urban properties with a property tax (IBI) bill in 2025 and 4,770 principal family homes in 2021. In an occupied house, the frass under the beam is spotted within a week. In one that is opened up in June, that same sign can go four summers without anyone connecting it to anything.
Woodworm in Calonge, at a glance
- Where
- Calonge i Sant Antoni, Baix Empordà, province of Girona
- Dominant pest
- Larval-cycle woodworm in exposed-beam floor structures
- Way in
- Egg-laying on bare wood or under very old limewash
- What is hit first
- Floor beam with infill or Catalan vault
- Method
- Prior stripping of the limewash, injection with non-return valves and double fumigation
- Real timescale
- Executed floor by floor, with the report and plan delivered first
- Guarantee
- 1 year guarantee on woodworm, recorded in the report delivered when the intervention closes
What is inside a floor structure in Calonge's old quarter?
In Calonge's old quarter the usual floor structure is exposed timber beams on rubble masonry walls, with ceramic infill or a Catalan vault between the pieces. The wood is left bare or under a coat of very old limewash, and that porous surface is exactly what the female seeks to lay her eggs on. By the time the fine frass appears, the generation producing it is no longer the first.
Limewash forces stripping before injecting: the coat covers the exit holes and holds back the product. Under the limewash, a beam can keep a spotless visible face while its core is riddled with galleries. In case file ER-2026-271 the planned stripping is by hand and only on the kitchen beams of the first floor. When what covers the wood is hard varnish, we turn to blasting with soft abrasives.
In the old quarter the floor structure is spread across the storeys, and the damage is not spread evenly. In the four-storey building of that case file, the entrance floor came out clean and the three above it did not: 12 beams over the vault, 28 on the first floor and 27 on the second. Inspecting only the floor you enter from the street leaves almost everything out.
In Sant Antoni de Calonge and Torre Valentina the holiday home changes the timing of the discovery, not the biology of the insect. A house opened up in June holds months of frass that someone sweeps up before looking at where it falls from. That is why in Calonge we often arrive to find the damage spread across the whole floor structure, rather than confined to a couple of loose pieces.
Where does damaged wood show up first in Calonge?
Zone by zone, what was built, what wood sits inside and where the insect gets in. It is the reading our technicians make before deciding where the check starts.
| Zone of Calonge | Dominant construction | Wood present | Way in | First sign |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| the old quarter | Rubble masonry with exposed beams and infill | Floor beams and Catalan vault | Bare or limewashed wood, with no preservative | Frass that reappears days after cleaning it up |
| Sant Antoni de Calonge | Blocks and apartments in seasonal use | Joinery, floorboards and furniture | Indoor wood never treated before | New holes on the edge of a door |
| Torre Valentina | Detached home close to the sea | Decorative beams, porches and pergolas | Outdoor wood that is often damp | Pale dust under the porch beam |
| the inland farmhouses | Masia farmhouse with its complete original floor structure | Large-section beams and rafters | Floor structure that never received preservative | Pile of frass under the beamwork |
Source: ERRADICAT technical criteria from own work in Baix Empordà · retrieved on 4 September 2026.
Calonge in verifiable figures
22,051
urban properties with a property tax (IBI) bill in Calonge i Sant Antoni in 2025
Source: Idescat, El municipi en xifres
4,770
principal family homes counted in the municipality in 2021
Source: Idescat, El municipi en xifres
How it was counted: They are two official counts from different years, taken exactly as Idescat publishes them: the bills come from the 2025 urban property tax statistics and the principal homes from the 2021 census. They are not crossed to work out any proportion, because they share neither year nor unit of measure.
Calonge i Sant Antoni adds up to 22,051 urban properties with a property tax (IBI) bill in 2025 and 4,770 principal family homes in 2021.
The gap between those two figures describes how many houses in Calonge spend long spells shut up, and a shut-up house has nobody to see the frass. That delay in the diagnosis is the reason we measure the whole floor structure, beam by beam and in linear metres, instead of assessing by built area: by the time we finally get the call, the damage is rarely confined to two pieces.
A real job in Calonge
The data comes from our own technical case files. Open the case and you will see the date, the method and the case file number; anything that could identify the client or the property stays out.
A four-storey house, 67 beams counted and one that could not be saved
Case file ER-2026-271
- Property
- Four-storey house in Calonge's old quarter
- Element treated
- Exposed-beam floor structure inventoried across three storeys, 67 beams in total, with the treatment executed on the 12 beams of the vaulted floor
- Detected
- Woodworm across the whole floor structure, and termite traces with no current activity on the vaulted floor and the first floor
- Timescale
- Executed in phases, floor by floor, to keep the home in use
- Method applied
- Pressure injection through non-return valves on the 12 beams of the vaulted floor, followed by double fumigation with a TP8 wood-preservative biocide
The entrance ground floor came out clean and the three upper floors did not. We numbered the 67 beams consecutively, 1 to 12 on the vaulted floor, 13 to 40 on the first and 41 to 67 on the second, and transferred every piece to its floor's plan with the type of damage noted. Beam number 2 turned up with heavy termite damage along its whole length, on top of the woodworm, and was reported for full replacement instead of treatment: with no sound section left, injecting gives nothing back. The termite traces in the rest of the building showed no activity. The treatment began with the 12 beams of the vaulted floor. For the first-floor kitchen the report provides for removing the limewash by hand before touching the wood, and that phase is still pending.
Three signs that really tell you whether the wood is active
Almost everyone arrives looking at the holes, and the hole is the one thing that says nothing about activity. These three do.
Round holes of one to two millimetres
The diameter and shape identify the insect. Round and small points to common woodworm. Oval and several millimetres wide points to the longhorn beetle, the house borer that genuinely compromises a beam's section.
A gnawing sound in the quiet
In a calm house, above all at night and in spring, you can hear a very fine scraping inside the wood. The audiotermes amplifies that sound and locates the exact piece, which is what makes it possible to treat where treatment is due.
When do the adults emerge in Calonge?
In Calonge the emergence of the adults coincides with the reopening of the holiday homes: the frass found when the shutters go up in spring has been falling for weeks.
Common woodworm Anobium punctatum
Activity: from April to August · Peak: May and June.
House longhorn beetle Hylotrupes bajulus
Activity: from June to August · Peak: July.
- Highest chance of seeing them
- Active period
- No flight expected
These dates are indicative windows. Flight depends on temperature and humidity, so each year it starts earlier or later: if you see winged insects outside these months, it is still a reason for an inspection.
Source: Higiene Ambiental, technical journal of the sector · retrieved on 21 July 2026.
Injection with non-return valves and double fumigation
First the wood is read. Inspection with audiotermes, identification of the insect and assessment of whether the piece can take a curative treatment or has already lost load-bearing section and must be reported for replacement. If there is varnish, paint or limewash on top, it is stripped first: through a sealed coat the product does not get in.
Then comes the injection. Small-diameter holes are drilled at regular intervals, non-return valves are fitted and the wood preservative, a TP8-type biocide, is injected under pressure to reach the internal galleries. The UNE-EN 351 standard grades penetration from NP1 to NP6, and on a structural beam the target is the high classes, not a surface coat.
It closes with a double fumigation in two coats over the whole visible face of the piece, to cover what the injection cannot reach. And when the piece cannot be drilled, like a piece of furniture, a carving or a demountable coffered ceiling, there is anoxia: the piece is sealed in an oxygen-free atmosphere until the insect's cycle completes, without touching the finish.
How long this really takes
Woodworm is solved on site, not over months of monitoring. The calendar depends above all on the metres of beam and on whether stripping is needed.
Total duration:Executed floor by floor, with the report and plan delivered first
Included
Visual assessment visit
A naked-eye walk along the accessible wood to see the apparent extent. The assessment visit is included, at no cost and with no obligation, and it is the starting point when the signs are unclear.
1 working day, with the figure agreed first
Technical study
Percussion sounding, listening with audiotermes, identification of the insect and piece-by-piece measurement of the linear metres of beam. We always recommend it: it confirms every point of damage and marks which pieces need treating. It is quoted separately, so you see it with the scope in front of you and it starts when you say yes.
A few days later
Report and floor plan
Floor-by-floor plan with every beam numbered, its damage and the treatment proposal with your written quote. The work is measured by linear metre of beam counted on site, not by square metre of home. It is part of the technical study.
Only if there is a coat on top
Prior stripping
Manual removal of limewash, paint or varnish in the areas to be treated, without harming the wood. Without this step neither the inspection nor the product penetration is reliable.
By floor or by room
Injection
Drilling, fitting of non-return valves and pressure injection of the wood preservative into the galleries.
Same day as the injection
Double fumigation
Two coats over the whole surface of the piece, including accessible faces and edges.
As per the product data sheet
Drying and ventilation
Waiting time before reoccupying the room. It is stated in writing in the intervention report.
The visual assessment visit is included, at no cost and with no obligation: when the signs are unclear, it is the way to clear doubts. Even so, we always recommend the technical study with audiotermes, a floor plan of the issues found and a report, which is quoted separately: it confirms every point of damage, fixes where the treatment must act and from it comes your written quote, so you decide with the figure in front of you.
Source: ERRADICAT's intervention protocol · retrieved on 4 September 2026.
What we get asked in Calonge
My beams are limewashed. Do they need stripping before treatment?
Yes, and in the houses of Calonge's old quarter it is the norm. Limewash covers the exit holes, stops us assessing the real condition of the piece and holds back the penetration of the product. It is removed only in the areas to be treated: by hand when the coat is thin, by soft-abrasive blasting when what sits on top is varnish or hardened paint.
Can a floor structure with a Catalan vault be treated without dismantling it?
Yes. The injection is carried out in the beam, through small-diameter drill holes that house the non-return valves, and the thin brickwork of the vault is left untouched. In Calonge's old quarter that detail is decisive: the vault is part of what gives the house its value, and replacing the floor structure means losing it.
Does the house have to be emptied during the treatment?
There is no need to empty it entirely. In the four-storey house of the Calonge case file the work is organised floor by floor precisely so the owners can keep using the home, which is why it started with the vaulted floor. The room being injected does have to be cleared, and the drying and ventilation time set by the product's data sheet respected before it is occupied again.
I only use my Calonge house in summer. Can I check for myself whether the woodworm is still active?
Yes, and in a holiday home it is the most useful check that can be done without tools. Clean the floor beneath the holes before shutting up the house and leave white paper spread out under the beams. If there is fine, pale frass on the paper when you return, there are larvae at work inside. The holes alone cannot tell a live gallery from one forty years old.
The same beam has woodworm and termite traces. Are they treated the same way?
No, they are two different jobs on the same piece. Woodworm is dealt with in the wood: pressure injection with non-return valves and double fumigation of the surface. The subterranean termite lives in the ground and is fought with a bait system, with stations and periodic checks. In the Calonge floor structure one beam turned up with both, and the report recommended replacing it whole instead of treating it.
How far do we travel from Calonge?
In Calonge we cover the whole municipal area, including the old quarter, Sant Antoni de Calonge, Torre Valentina and the inland farmhouses, and we also reach Palamós, Vall-llobrega and Castell d'Aro. We work Monday to Saturday, 7:30 to 22:00.
- If you are still unsure what you have, the visual assessment visit is included: no cost and no obligation.
- With signs in front of you, we recommend the technical study with audiotermes, floor plan and report: it confirms every point of damage, marks which pieces need treating and from it comes your written quote. It is quoted separately and starts when you say yes.
- The treatment is executed floor by floor or room by room, so the home stays in use while the work is done.
- And if your property sits right on the edge of the area, we confirm it by phone in the same call.
The contrast lies in the pest and the way in: in Blanes the documented case file is subterranean termite rising from the ground towards parquet laid over screed, with no timber beam involved.
Termite treatment in BlanesWhat changes in l'Escala is the type of commission: there the local case file is a diagnostic study with audiotermes and a plan of findings, useful for seeing what a report contains before commissioning any work.
Termite survey and treatment in l'Escala, piece by pieceSame insect, different decision framework: in Girona the protection of the historic ensemble conditions what can be replaced, whereas in Calonge's old quarter that decision rests with the owner.
Woodworm in Girona's beams: treating the piece without replacing itWoodworm treatment by municipality
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Who you are dealing with
Company registered with the ROESP
The ROESP is the Spanish official register of pesticide establishments and services. It is the legal requirement for applying professional-use biocides, and not everyone offering these treatments meets it.
Technicians by trade, since November 2011
The technician who signs the reports, Sergi Casadevall Casas, has been treating termites and woodworm in Barcelona and Girona since November 2011, holding the biocide applicator licence. Visits are always made by our technicians, never by salespeople.
Written guarantee
The conditions and timescales go in the intervention report, signed. For termites, 3 years from the certificate of colony elimination, with the annual inspection included at no added cost.
The floor plan and the report stay with you
The technical study ends in a floor-by-floor plan of the property, with the issues found marked and the real extent of the damage. It is quoted separately and the document stays in the owner's hands, to work with the architect or to seek a second opinion with data on the table.
Barcelona and Girona under the same registration
Spanish Royal Decree 830/2010 establishes that a pest-control company's registration in one autonomous community is valid to work in the rest. That is why we cover both provinces with the same registration and the same team.
Content of this page reviewed by our technicians on 4 September 2026.
What happens when you call us from Calonge
We ask what you have seen and where. If the signs are unclear, we book the visual assessment visit, which is included and takes little time. And when the signs are there, what we recommend is the technical study: audiotermes, a floor plan of the issues found and a report, with your written quote so you decide with the figure in front of you. If the wood is healthy, we tell you that too: you save yourself the treatment.
602 433 979The visual assessment visit is included, at no cost and with no obligation: when the signs are unclear, it is the way to clear doubts. Even so, we always recommend the technical study with audiotermes, a floor plan of the issues found and a report, which is quoted separately: it confirms every point of damage, fixes where the treatment must act and from it comes your written quote, so you decide with the figure in front of you.
Send us your enquiry
We serve the provinces of Barcelona and Girona.
* Required fields