Chapel conversion: Have an area of dry rot in my basement floor - at least it has all the symptoms - mycelium like cotton wool or fine cobwebs, orange dust spores, brown wood, fruiting body (just one small one) but no cuboidal cracking. At its worst there are 3"x5" joists gone dark brown with distorted surface, which are as light as balsa wood and you can break them in half over your knee. Does absence of cuboidal cracking mean a different sort of rot - less persistent I hope?
cheers
Jacob
Having looked closer I can now answer my own question;
1 the severely rotten joists are old wet rot hence no cubic cracks 2 the rest is later (recent ) dry rot 3 I've found the telltale cubic cracks in a small area under the joist at about the center i.e. oldest, part of the dry rot, as though it started in one place and has spread out from there.cheers
Jacob
Don't be too downhearted. Dry rot is not that difficult to eradicate. Cut out the wood well beyond where it is infected and spray the rest. Make sure that you burn the infected wood. Check that air bricks etc are not blocked. Good airflow helps prevent a recurrence.
Peter Scott
It can still be a wet rot. The cuboid cracking is a characteristic of whether it is a brown fungus and there are wet and dry ones.
Take a look at mine fungus and cellar fungus.
You might find it's mine fungus.
Normally, dry rot needs a lack of ventilation to get going. Wet rot needs more moisture.
.andy
To email, substitute .nospam with .gl
Dry Rot, which it appears to be from your description in the original post, almost invariably requires a source of moisture which is in excess of hygroscopic moisture (ie places with high Relative Humidity), in my experience they are always triggered by a specific moisture source(s) such as plumbing leaks or penetrating moisture from faulty rainwaiter sources etc etc.
The primary treatment for dry rot is the elimination of the said source of moisture and, if this is done, no further treatment is necessary - *providing* -that a further outbreak can not occur during drying out. Retatining this situation is essential.
Also of course, as Peter says, cutting back infected timber is necessary and, if you cut back 500mm past the 'frontier' you should be ok. Remember to replace the timber with one which has been pressure or vacuum treated with fungicide and treat all the cut ends thoroughly.
You can spray around liberally if you want, personally I would avoid using chemicals if at all possible, but the golden rule is: control the moisture and you kill the rot. This applies to all rots of course, brown or white.
If you want a definitive test of your rot, remove one of the 'strands' (these will be approximately 1/16 - 1/8 in diameter. Let it dry thoroughly and, if it becomes brittle, then this is almost certainly dry rot. As for mine fungus (fibroporia vaillantii)which is also a 'brown' rot and will establish cuboidal cracking), any strands will be white, rather like string, and will stay supple even after drying. The fruiting body is also white and looks like it has a 'honeycomb' appearance. From your original post this doesn't seem to be the case. (Also. your cellar would have to have been moderately warm for mine fungus )to have flourished.
Cellar rot. or wet rot (coniophoria puteana)is also a 'brown' rot which will produce cuboidal cracking but it can leave a surface 'skin' which is devoid of these cracks. The damage will be visible beneath though. It can also produce strands but these are much finer than dry rot and remain supple when dried. Its fruiting body is usually quite flat and has little nobbles on it. It may be that you have had both at one time or another.
Rots are not to be feared, merely dried!
HTH
Xav
The solution is to replace any bad wood and reduce humidity in the area. Whatever you do, if you dont make it drier, it will just recur.
NT
Thanks for replies. I'm on the case - removed lotsa joists and boards and treating some remaining with v expensive boron/glycol stuff from the Green Building store. They say it's non toxic to us, which is good thing as most trad treatments seem very inadvisable. Makes you wonder about some older treatments - woodwork soaked with TBT, lindane etc, -people living in toxic dumps. Ours is a dump but non-toxic so far, touch wood (or perhaps not!).
cheers
Jacob
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