Antifungal Course in bathroom and DPC course , pls help

[platforminc]

Hi All,

I’m embarking on a project to install a new bathroom/toilet suite. Now the current floor can be described as rotten at the moment. Some of the joists will need to be replaced and a new flooring installed together with new tiling. The bathroom is suffering from true dry rot on (flooring, joists, bearer plates skirting board and masonry). During the inspection, it was decided by a DPC company that some parts of the bathroom will have the existing plaster hacked off, a anti fungal chemical injected, left to dry for a few weeks and then the walls re-plastered. They also said that new joists will be fitted with pre-treated wood. They also said that the wood will be isolated from the wall plate/brick pier/brickwork using a physical damp proof membrane.


The question that I have here is that, the charges for the DPC company are a bit on the high side, a mate of mine told me that the chemical DPC can bought and a machine to inject the chemical into the wall rented as well. He also suggested that a builder can do all of this.
My question is that where can one buy the chemical from and what is the name of the machine that injects the chemical into the wall and where can it be hired from?

This is for the bathroom/toilet. Secondly there is a requirement for a vertical 1.5 metre high DPC chemical course on the ground floor living room space also. I understand that the chemical takes a few weeks to dry out, is it possible to get one which doesn’t take a long time to dry out. Does anyone know what DPC course I can buy to get my builder to carry out the works.


Any info or help will be most appreciated.

View media item 60822

 

[^woody^]

I confused.

Are you describing a chemical DPC, or irrigation of a sterilising fluid for dry rot fungi treatment?

 

[gregers]

looks to me that your local builder may not know how to carry out said works??
or may not want to??

 

[pinenot]

Skip the dpc, put in place a dehumidifier (small industrial only) and run until moisture reading is 10% hack out affected brickwork, apply boron to all affected areas, replace timber (as required only) covering joist ends with taped/sealed Visqueen (other brands are available) make sure good ventilation is in operation throughout the house and check frequently for this and other maintenance measures. This is the best advice you will ever get - throwing money at it is the worst...pinenot

 

[platforminc]

@Pinenot

You are the man. Thanks for the post.
Visqueen is the black DPC material that looks like thick polythene material.

As per boron, where can one get that from ?
Also for reading the moisture level, do you know where I can buy a meter from, I'm due one one.

 

[pinenot]

Ye! that's Visqueen. try this for sourcing your boron http://www.greenbuildingstore.co.uk/page--boron-timber-treatments-instructions.html

Kamasa do a good small one, I think you can get em from A*&^*n or that flea bay site...pinenot

 

[Joe Malone]

@Pinenot

You are the man.

Err, sorry but he isn't. I've never read such a lot of tosh in my life and you'd be very unwise to follow his recommendations.

 

[Joe Malone]

Hi All,

I’m embarking on a project to install a new bathroom/toilet suite. Now the current floor can be described as rotten at the moment. Some of the joists will need to be replaced and a new flooring installed together with new tiling. The bathroom is suffering from true dry rot on (flooring, joists, bearer plates skirting board and masonry). During the inspection, it was decided by a DPC company that some parts of the bathroom will have the existing plaster hacked off, a anti fungal chemical injected, left to dry for a few weeks and then the walls re-plastered. They also said that new joists will be fitted with pre-treated wood. They also said that the wood will be isolated from the wall plate/brick pier/brickwork using a physical damp proof membrane.


The question that I have here is that, the charges for the DPC company are a bit on the high side, a mate of mine told me that the chemical DPC can bought and a machine to inject the chemical into the wall rented as well. He also suggested that a builder can do all of this.
My question is that where can one buy the chemical from and what is the name of the machine that injects the chemical into the wall and where can it be hired from?

This is for the bathroom/toilet. Secondly there is a requirement for a vertical 1.5 metre high DPC chemical course on the ground floor living room space also. I understand that the chemical takes a few weeks to dry out, is it possible to get one which doesn’t take a long time to dry out. Does anyone know what DPC course I can buy to get my builder to carry out the works.


Any info or help will be most appreciated.

There are a couple of obvious questions to ask, the first and most obvious being, is it a ground floor bathroom? If not then I don't really understand all the talk of chemical DPC's. that being said I don't understand why you would use it anyway.

Lets discuss the dry rot first. There have been many chemical treatments recommended for dry rot but you simply don't need them and even if you did, Boron isn't one of them, Boron is more often specified as a woodworm treatment and I've found no mention of this in your thread.
Best practice treatment for dry rot is to simply, eradicate the source of moisture, introduce rapid drying and increase ventilation. Keep timber moisture content below 20% and you won't have a problem with dry rot, simple as that.
In terms of the damage done to existing timbers then yes, of course these will need replacing at least one meter back from the last sign of infection. The serpula Lacrymans fungus feeds on the lignin (part of the cellulose) within the wood and this is what causes the wood to crumble and lose its strength. Obviously use pressure treated timbers and if building into the brickwork you simply wrap the joint end in a plastic boot made from a roll of DPC and a staple gun. Alternatively simply place the timbers on joist hangers.
Do not waste your time or money on chemical DPC injection, if the plaster is defective then replace with a renovating plaster such as limelite but DPC injection is not necessary.

Critical to all recommendations is an understanding as to where the bathroom is. I've assumed ground floor, obviously with timber floor and sub floor void. If you have dry rot then sub floor moisture content is high and you will continue to have problems until you deal with the problem at source rather than considering management solutions like chemical treatments etc.
Remember... Eradicate the source of moisture.! Is there a leak under the floor or is it caused purely from ground moisture? If no leaks then fine, you simply have an issue with poor sub floor ventilation. Inspect your air bricks. Have you got enough or do you need to install more? I have to say that the advice given by pinenot is complete nonsense and shows a very poor understanding of these issues. Particularly his advice to 'Hack out affected brickwork', as I said, complete tosh!

 

[gregers]

really,plz explain what parts you think are not to your liking.im not agreeing with all of his recommendations but most make perfect sense to me.

 

[Joe Malone]

really,plz explain what parts you think are not to your liking.im not agreeing with all of his recommendations but most make perfect sense to me.

Hack out brickwork? Ridiculous idea!

Run dehumidifier until moisture content is 10%. What moisture content? 10% is high for brickwork and very low for sub floor timbers.

Skip what DPC? No mention of DPC and the idea that you can sterilise for dry rot by throwing everything into a skip is ridiculous.

Good ventilation throughout the house? Another ridiculous recommendation that might be more appropriate for condensation damp but it isn't anywhere near specific enough for treating dry rot.

I could go on but I think that's enough to be going on with.

 

[^woody^]

I've never read such a lot of tosh in my life

You obviously have not read his other threads yet then. LOL

 

[Joe Malone]

I've never read such a lot of tosh in my life

You obviously have not read his other threads yet then. LOL

I've read two of his posts Woody and the blokes dangerous. More worrying is that people on here are taking his advice!

 

[gregers]

really,plz explain what parts you think are not to your liking.im not agreeing with all of his recommendations but most make perfect sense to me.

Hack out brickwork? Ridiculous idea!

Run dehumidifier until moisture content is 10%. What moisture content? 10% is high for brickwork and very low for sub floor timbers.

Skip what DPC? No mention of DPC and the idea that you can sterilise for dry rot by throwing everything into a skip is ridiculous.

Good ventilation throughout the house? Another ridiculous recommendation that might be more appropriate for condensation damp but it isn't anywhere near specific enough for treating dry rot.

I could go on but I think that's enough to be going on with.

the op mentions a chemical dpc in his original post.
maybe he meant the plaster/render to be skipped?
as for the wall treatment there is either diamond drilling or containment,
ventilation,maybe all those air bricks ive put in over the years were a waste of time then?
as for wrapping the joists ends i understand that perfectly as thats what i do.
i too could go on,
1 thing the op hasnt mentioned is whether the walls are cavity or solid.

 

[Joe Malone]

really,plz explain what parts you think are not to your liking.im not agreeing with all of his recommendations but most make perfect sense to me.

Hack out brickwork? Ridiculous idea!

Run dehumidifier until moisture content is 10%. What moisture content? 10% is high for brickwork and very low for sub floor timbers.

Skip what DPC? No mention of DPC and the idea that you can sterilise for dry rot by throwing everything into a skip is ridiculous.

Good ventilation throughout the house? Another ridiculous recommendation that might be more appropriate for condensation damp but it isn't anywhere near specific enough for treating dry rot.

I could go on but I think that's enough to be going on with.

the op mentions a chemical dpc in his original post.
maybe he meant the plaster/render to be skipped?
as for the wall treatment there is either diamond drilling or containment,
ventilation,maybe all those air bricks ive put in over the years were a waste of time then?
as for wrapping the joists ends i understand that perfectly as thats what i do.
i too could go on,
1 thing the op hasnt mentioned is whether the walls are cavity or solid.

You're disagreeing with one of my points on the basis that maybe the OP meant something else. Maybe he meant skip the render or plaster... Genius, don't know about you but I always like to keep the old plaster and render that I hack off, it looks lovely scattered over the flower beds. Or maybe you can tell me how you dispose of a chemical DPC in the skip?
You're confusing the point about ventilation as much as pinenot did... He recommended improving the house ventilation and this is completely meaningless for the treatment of dry rot. What have air bricks you installed got to do with anything? If you installed them as room ventilation, then yes, they'd be a waste of time for treating dry rot, if you installed them to ventilate the sub floor then that would not be a waste of time for treating dry rot.
As for wrapping joist ends, nothing wrong with that and I didn't disagree on the point suffice to say that Visqueen isn't really durable enough for this application and I would recommend a roll of polyethylene DPC as being a better choice of material.
How does the distinction between solid and cavity walls affect the advice given for treating dry rot?
If you can go on then I hope you have a point to make because the point was decidedly absent from your last post.

 

[gregers]

have you actually got your hands dirty doing this kind of work?or are you a suit?not have a pop m8 just inquiring
if the wall is a cavity then its going to be a bit difficult in drilling it out for dry rot treatment but then i wouldve thought you would know that?,also it may well be blocked so installing a chemical dpc will be a waste of time without clearing out all/any crud that may be there,also only inside skin needs to be injected.
the op has gone quite on this thread along with pinenot ?