Dry Rot

[trevor]

We have just descovered we have a dry rot problem in our french house. 'Mushroom thing' appeared in one of the bedrooms in between our October and February visits. Have searched the internet to confirm dry rot. My wife is now terrified that the house will have to be demolished! Do the french react like this? Properties with no damp proof courses etc surely suffer damp. Any views on the best way forward to solve this situation?

[Tag]

Dont panic! Where is it, how much is there? How do you know it is dry rot? What type of house is it? Could be damp mould, dry mould, shifted tiles, a leaking gutter or loads of other stuff. Half the old houses in France have some sort of rot, beetle, damp problem etc.

Tell all and we'll try to help.

Tim

[AnOther]

I too think it's a bit early to be going into panic mode.

The first thing you must do is get a professional in to properly investigate and diagnose what the problem is. But you don't need me or anyone else here to tell you that do you !

If it is dry rot then there is no denying that it could be a big and expensive job to eradicate it, but again, if you have researched it you'll already know that too. I'd be extremely surprised it it came to demolishing an entire house though.

Dry Rot occurs due to a combination of factors, not just damp, so the lack of a DPC is unlikely to be the root cause. Ventilation is almost always the key to preventing this type of problem so if you have suspended floors elsewhere then try to ensure that here is adequate airflow underneath them.

Get that professional in TODAY (or at least tomorrow [;-)])

Good luck.

 

[trevor]

Thanks Tim,

Professional on his way, will post progress report later.

Trevor

[trevor]

Thanks Robin, professional on his way.

Will post report later.

Trevor

[trevor]

Thanks Ernie,

Professional on his way.

Will post progress later.

Trevor

[freddy]

I happen to know about this because we had such an attack.

All the previous posters about getting professional advice is correct. There are a lot of fungi and dry rot is only one possibility.

If is is dry rot the following applies

The spores for dry rot are all over Europe but require very specific conditions to be activated (specifically wood that is 57% saturated with water and unventilated) - the reason it is called dry rot is that once triggered in a wet area it can then spread to dry wood and beyond.

So the first thing to do is find the intial source of saturated wood - think leaking pipes, showers - hole in the roof etc. - Any wet wood will have to be cut out and replaced regardless.

All wood effected by the rot will have to be cut out and replaced with treated timber.

Dry rot will also send out tendrils - usually behind the plaster and under the tiles - it can work through motar as well. All this needs to be exposed and sprayed - Other uneffected timbers close by will also be sprayed with antifungicide - you then put it all back together.

Now in my case the original trigger was a leaking pipe so all the repairs and treatment were an insurance claim as consequential damage of the leaking pipe. So check your insurance - mine was in the UK so not sure about french policies but may be worth talking to someone before the insurance company.

Reassure your wife - if you have caught it earlyish it is unlikely in the extreme that anything as dramatic as demolishian would be required!!