Red weed damp fungys found in old house

[mikell]

Tbf she is coming along great guns

 

[^woody^]

Thanks , we are looking at maybe spraying in situ with bleach or something as much as possible and hopefully killing as much before we attempt to remove.

First confirm that it is dry rot and not any other type of fungus. If it is dry rot, bleach wont do jack.

Dry rot fungus needs to be removed and the area sterilized with a chemical - typically a boron based one but some others do the job. Plaster needs to be removed if the hyphae have gotten behind or in to it and the whole wall treated - and the walls way past the last identified hyphae too not just where you can see.

Timber needs to be cut out and removed plus timber up to 1m past the last bit of rot.

And the conditions that caused the rot in the first place need to be rectified else it just comes back.

It's not a casual clean up job for a Saturday morning

 

[accelerator]

That was my outlook 3 days,ago but All the talk of the spores getting airborne and finding new places to infest if disturbed... curtains, bedrooms, etc its almost asbestos like the way its portrayed if not dealt with safely that's the worry, id gladly get stuck in but any long term issues, I may create doesn't bear thinking about .
Cheers though

It's way less dangerous than asbestos. Asbestos can be a one-time exposure, which will then kill you from lung cancer years later.

You can get in there, use good ventilation whilst clearing everything out, rectify the problem, then treat wood with chemicals etc. Use a mask to prevent too much spore inhalation. It's not particularly dangerous for you. Just keep the pregnant woman away at the time and for a couple of days afterwards. Vacuum the room after doing the work, and then throw out the vacuum bag and change the filter. After that, the conditions for rot won't exist. You won't create a long term "infestation" of spores, they'll be gone and won't have the conditions to survive.

 

[accelerator]

What they don't teach you about the dangers of dry rot to pregnant women in a chemistry degree, is that the heavier pregnant woman is at risk from timber floors weakened by the fungus.

That's the difference between knowledge and wisdom.

Hey that was three years of hard work that chemistry degree ... well two really, I didn't work too hard the first year.

 

[mrrusty]

dry rot and dry rot spores are not in themselves considered a health hazard (google it). Like everything these days, everyone is very risk averse. Spores are everywhere- black spot on your roses? fungus from spores. The risk is if the conditions are suitably damp the spores grow, sucking all the structural compounds from the timber, eventually resulting in the fruiting bodies, which discharge loads of new red spores and the process repeats.

Do the legwork yourself, pay a couple of £K to get it all treated and then replace the timber. The materials in the floor of an average room won't go much over £2K at most, so get stuck in - this is a DIY forum! - there's lots of "how to" help here...

 

[mikell]

Thanks , I used this site a lot for years and from here got tons of work done helped by so many helpful knowledgeable people too!
I don't live in the uk right now so am trying to educate myself and him and see where it takes us !