Carpenters Tips
How do I know if I have DRY ROT in my house timber ?
Carpenter tips for spotting and treating Dry Rot in wood,
How can I tell if I have Dry Rot in the wood of my house?
Every house has timber in and while it can last a long time if it is looked after. Dry Rot can rampage through your home. It loves moist unventilated conditions,penetrates brickwork to get to your wood and can cause widespread destruction of structural timbers, skirting boards and door frames, and wood flooring. Because Dry rot thrives in damp, unventilated conditions, it can occur in the areas of a property that are hidden, like floor voids, or behind timber paneling, so damage may be extensive before the attack is discovered.
What to look for.
Dry Rot and what to look for. Dry rot first appears as off-white cotton-wool like sheets on brickwork and wood , later it develops fungal strands as thick as your small finger. It often has a lemon-yellowish tinge when its exposed to light.
How do I know I have dry rot in wood in my house . The first signs can be whitish cotton-wool like sheets on brickwork and timber and/or large flat mushroom-like things growing through plaster or paint and numerous spores which are normally brick-red in colour. Deep cracks running across the grain are another worrying sign of Dry rot fungus. Badly effected wood can be crumbled between your fingers. If you are not sure what to look for and live in the Bristol area, our carpenter can check for dry rot for you.
How to treat Dry Rot
Treating dry-rot can involve removal of the all affected timber for a metre beyond the visible signs of the fungus, and extensive chemical fungicide treatments for all adjacent timber and the brickwork of any contaminated walls and plaster. This is expensive so consult a recommended expert before agreeing to treatment.
Prevention is cheaper,preventive measures include using environmental controls, like isolation and ventilation ensuring the damp, unventilated conditions required by dry-rot do not occur. Simple things like ......
Wet rot tips, Woodworm tips on this website.
|
ensuring that the timber in your home does not become damp enough for dry-rot to attack, using joist hangers when replacing dry rot decayed joists with new timber instead of building them back into the brickwork, or having vents in your skirting boards to encourage ventilation of a floor void and strips of damp-proof membrane around the outside of replacement door and window frames will help too,
If you think you have dry rot attacking the timber of your house, it's probably best to have the problem looked at by a specialist. Unfortunatily, I don't offer this service but if you are in the Bristol area, the carpenter will give you a free quote for the remedial work listed in the specialists report.
You are welcome to use this article on your website as long as you reprint it as is, You must include an active link back to my website, http://www.flowerpotman.com
|
|
|