Back in the early 90s i bought a house, as image, for conversion, on survey it was noted that possibly there was evidence of dry rot, i took a risk and on completion of sale was in with the crowbars to investigate proper... horror of all horrors the complete gable end of the whole house was alive with the stuff, i had to cut back every floor joist, support and re-add on , i had to completely strip out first and remove the infected timber, ironically the dry rot only extended in from the gable end about 400mm, and then the timber was totally unaffected, i had quotes to deal with the masonry and was staggered by the cost, it was about the time when access to the internet was possible and i started researching what dry rot was all about... basically change the enviroment and it cannot thrive!!, also i was able to purchase the fluids for injection into brickwork, however looking up the chimmeys of which there was 6 no, you could see the mushrooms all the way up and it stank of the stuff, I read in my research that exposure to heat over a reasonable prolonged period would eradicate the dry rot!!, so i thought in my wisdom that if i got a big fire going in each fireplace i would do some good, I basically filled the fireplaces first and then from the scaffolding which i had up i filled totally the 6 chimmeys with loose wood, about 3 pick up truck loads in all, I chose a nice day and silmutaneously lit all six fireplaces alight, from inside the house which was basically crackling loudly i noticed a crowd gathering acrosss the street, and it seemed to of gone a little darker outside!!, i went out for a look, there was flames about 3 foot high out of each chimmey pot, the gable end was steaming its moisture away, and the smoke was forming clouds!! within 2 minuites the fire brigade arrived and were unwinding there hoses and getting ready to tackle what could only look like a house fully ablaze!, I was frantically waving my arms saying STOP STOP its ok I t was meant to be on fire, i was treating my walls!!, to be fair It was quite controlled even though it looked crazilly dramatic, the fire officer looked it through and had is men stand down but at the ready, about an hour passed before it had burnt out and was spent. I think thats what i would call a near disaster... the dry rot was gone... or lets say in the 12 years i lived there it didnt re-appear, and when i sold it there was nothing on the purchasers enhanced survey.. at the time i became pretty savvy with dry rot, I wouldnt let it worry me again! as long as you can see the structural work needed for removal of infected timber and can definetly change the environment ( ventilation usually) then i would tackle it again no probs... not sure if i would pul of the chimmey trick again though!!!Russell
