Wet and Dry Rot

Home Services Wet and Dry Rot
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wet and dry rot

Wet and dry rot can both be caused by a lack of sub floor ventilation, damp walls or condensation as a result of water leaking from sinks, baths, showers, pipe work, guttering or poorly maintained roofs.

What is Wet Rot?

Wet Rot is sometimes called cellar fungus. If left untreated, it will destroy the structural strength of your timber.

Treatment for this form of rot is by the application of a fungicidal paste spread onto the surface or in the case of larger timbers injected into the centre.

Once this paste has been applied a skin forms which prevents the evaporation of the carrier solvent ensuring maximum penetration of the active ingredients.

Structurally unsound timbers should be replaced with new and the original source of dampness traced and rectified.

What is Dry Rot?

Dry Rot is by far the most dangerous and destructive of the wood destroying fungi. It can completely destroy wood reducing it to a dry and brittle state that is easily crumbled by hand.

Dry rot causes extensive damage thanks to its unique ability to transport water great distances through its root structure, dampen sound timber and feed from the cellulose.

It is particularly dangerous as it only requires a moisture content in timber of 20% to germinate. Under the right conditions it can spread as fast as 80mm a day. Its mycelium can penetrate masonry and infect timber on the other side of thick walls.

Once matured, the fungi produce a fruiting body which spreads its microscropic spores throughout the building to infect other areas. It is therefore essential that the correct action is taken swifty to eradicate this malignant fungus or untold damage to the building will result.

How Can We Help?

We can solve your problems of wet and dry rot and have done so on many occasions including inside a domestic roof void.

There have also been instances where we have treated dry rot discretely inside a West Sussex restaurant without any disruption to trading.

Additionally, Shanley Homes Ltd requested our specialist advice in restoring and converting a grade 2 listed timber oak framed building in Merstham in Surrey into the wing of a new home.

We were commissioned to take down large sections of the frame, photograph, log and store then reconstruct. We replaced all rotten and structurally unsound timbers using locally sourced green oak, which was completed by hand using our in-house carpenters.

remove wet and dry rot
REMOVE WET
AND DRY ROT
in house carpenter
IN-HOUSE
CARPENTERS
restore timber strength
RESTORE TIMBER
STRENGTH

Benefits To You

The first step is to identify the type of rot you have, as both require different treatments.

Wet rot identification:

  • Look out for black fungus growing on timber.
  • It will feel soft and spongy and likely darker than surrounding timber.
  • If it has dried out it will easily crack and crumble into fine pieces.

Dry rot identification:

  • The timber will be brown in colour and will easily crumble in your hand.
  • There could be silky white sheets.
  • There could be a ‘fruiting body’ growing on the timber.

Example Images

Image 1 =  Timber treatment works against wet and dry rot and wood boring beetles in High Street, Shoreditch. We were working on conservation timber treatment works for surrounding buildings at a development of a 50-storey residential tower and accompanying commercial buildings.

Image 2 = Typical decay of floor joists from wet rot (Coniophora puteana) together with infestation of wood boring beetle & wood weevil.

Images 3 and 4 = Before and after shots of works carried out by Archer’s at Home Farm House in Merston with the use of a structural scaffold to help carefully cut out rot affected oak sections of the timber frame prior to the hand over back to the client (Stanley Homes Ltd).

Images 5 – 7 = Oak timbers within a grade 2 listed domestic property in Rowgate, Sussex affected by wet rot were carefully cut out and replaced with new timbers after the chemical treatment of the remaining adjacent timbers with an approved fungicide solution.

Looking To Fix Your Wet or Dry Rot?
Let Archer Specialist Treatments resolve your problems of wet or dry rot. Call us today to find out more.