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 Tamariu, from exposed beams to porch logs
In Tamariu woodworm lives under varnish, limewash and bark. We confirm whether it is still active and treat it from inside the piece, with non-return valves and pressure injection.
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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We serve the provinces of Barcelona and Girona.
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The exposed beam of a Tamariu house warns the ear before it warns the eye. This coastal village of Palafrugell brings together fishermen's houses with beam-and-reed ceilings, log-beam porches and second homes with varnished beams, and in all of them the old hole misleads: only fresh frass gives away activity. The treatment goes in from inside, with non-return valves and pressure injection, and prior stripping when varnish or limewash seals the surface.
Woodworm in Tamariu, at a glance
- Where
- Tamariu, Baix Empordà, province of Girona
- Dominant pest
- Woodworm in exposed beams and log beams
- Way in
- The female's egg-laying in cracks and unsealed faces
- What is hit first
- Beam-and-reed ceilings and porch log beams
- Method
- Stripping if there is varnish or limewash, pressure injection through non-return valves and double fumigation with TP8 preservative
- Real timescale
- Scheduled room by room and dependent on the number of pieces to treat
- Guarantee
- 1 year in writing on the treated elements
Why is Tamariu's woodworm heard before it is seen?
Because the larva spends almost its whole cycle inside the piece, gnawing galleries that cannot be seen from outside. In the fishermen's houses of the village, with their beam-and-reed ceilings, that work can be heard in the silence of the night: a dry, intermittent scraping that seems to come from the wall and comes from the ceiling. The holes visible on the face of the beam are the exits of generations that flew off long ago, so looking only at holes leads to the wrong conclusion in both directions.
The log-beam porches and pergolas of the seafront add another trap. A log beam keeps the outer part of the trunk, the part woodworm finds most appetising, and its curved, irregular surface hides the holes better than a squared beam does. The sun and salt air of the promenade open cracks where the female lays, and the piece goes on looking healthy while it loses section. Tapping it with your knuckles and listening to the note is an honest first check: a dull, hollow sound calls for an inspection.
In the second homes, many beams were varnished during some renovation, and that finish gives a misleading reassurance: it seals the visible face but says nothing about the inside, and a glossy coat can cover active galleries. On top of that, a product applied from outside barely penetrates varnished wood. That is why serious treatment works from within, with non-return valves that carry the preservative under pressure right into the gallery, and when the surface needs protecting too, the varnish is stripped first to open the pores.
A house opened only in season delays all these warnings. Frass that falls in October is seen by nobody until July, and the first clean of the summer sweeps it up with the dust, unread. Before reaching for the cloth it is worth photographing where the little piles were and what colour they were: pale, loose frass speaks of recent activity, whereas a hole, on its own, dates nothing. With those photos, the later inspection starts with half the diagnosis done.
Where does damaged wood show up first in Tamariu?
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 Tamariu | Dominant construction | Wood present | Way in | First sign |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| the beach promenade | Houses facing the sand, with porches | Porch and pergola log beams | Cracks opened by sun and salt air | Hollow note when the piece is tapped |
| the fishermen's quarter | Limewashed houses on narrow streets | Beam-and-reed ceilings | Unfinished faces and old cracks | Gnawing audible at night |
| Aigua Xelida | Second homes among the pines | Varnished beams and outdoor joinery | Spots where the varnish lost its seal | Pale frass after months shut up |
Source: ERRADICAT technical criteria from own work in the province of Girona · retrieved on 4 September 2026.
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 Tamariu?
In Tamariu the adults emerge in the warm months, just as the houses are opened up: the fresh holes and the clean frass beneath them appear at the height of the season, and the village's quiet nights let the larva be heard.
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:Scheduled room by room and dependent on the number of pieces to treat
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 Tamariu
The beams of my Tamariu house are full of holes. Does that mean the woodworm is still alive?
Not necessarily, and in Tamariu it is the doubt we hear most often. Every hole is the exit of an adult that has already left, and a single piece can build up those of several generations, even from infestations that died out long ago. Current activity is recognised by fresh, pale, loose frass that reappears after cleaning, and by the gnawing heard at night. With those two signs in front of us, the inspection confirms which pieces are still inhabited.
Does the varnish have to come off the beams to treat woodworm?
Not always, and in the second homes of Tamariu the varnished beam is the norm. Pressure injection does not depend on the finish: the non-return valves sit in discreet drill holes and spread the preservative from inside. Stripping comes into play when the surface also needs protecting, because a pore sealed by varnish or limewash does not absorb. Which pieces need it is decided in the technical study, element by element.
At night there is a dry gnawing in the porch ceiling. Could it be woodworm?
Yes, and in a log-beam porch on the beach promenade it is a very reliable clue. The noise is made by the larva as it opens its gallery, and in the night-time silence of Tamariu it is noticed before there is any visible damage. It is worth noting which piece it comes from and applying no more varnish or filling any holes until the inspection: that precise spot guides where to listen, where to look for frass and where the valves will go if treatment is needed.
We only open our Tamariu house in summer. Can the treatment be arranged within those weeks?
Yes, in the fishermen's quarter and in Aigua Xelida that is the normal situation: houses lived in by the season. The visit is scheduled for the dates when there is access, the technical study fixes in advance where every valve goes, and the intervention requires neither building work nor moving out of the home, so the calendar adapts to your stay instead of extending it.
Does the woodworm treatment come with a written guarantee?
Yes, the woodworm guarantee is for one year and covers every element treated in Tamariu, from the living-room ceiling to the porch log. It is set down in writing with the detail of the pieces, and if within that period one of them were to show signs of activity again, the re-treatment falls within the guarantee. New frass under a treated piece is the warning worth reporting, however minor it seems.
How far do we travel from Tamariu?
In Tamariu we cover the whole municipal area, including the beach promenade, the fishermen's quarter and Aigua Xelida, and we also reach Llafranc, Calella de Palafrugell and Begur. 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.
Tamariu shares with Begur the profile of the house that spends months shut up, but the case published there is termites: a bait system that keeps working when nobody is in.
Termite treatment in Begur, even when the house is shut upTamariu has its woodworm in plain sight in beams and log beams; in Calonge's old quarter it appears under coats of limewash, and prior stripping carries more weight before injecting.
Woodworm treatment in Calonge i Sant AntoniTamariu looks out on the same sea as Roses, where the usual enquiry is also to tell the old hole from live woodworm before assessing any treatment at all.
Woodworm treatment in Roses: live activity, not old holesWoodworm treatment by municipality
Each municipality has its own page, with real work from its area and the detail of how we work there.
Girona
Most popular municipalities
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 Tamariu
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