Removing mushroom mold from joists

[cosmarchy]

Hi,

I'm renovating an old 1903 house and have discovered a serious case of mold on two joists.

I probably should have took some photos but needless to say the mold growing on a 2 to 3 foot section of the two joists is quite substantial and thick. It is white and light brown in colour.

The joists are most probably oak given the age of the house and not sure what damage leaving the mold long term will do but I want it removed safely as it is likely a health hazard anyway

How do you get rid of this? Is there anything to treat this mold with that will make kill it or dry it up so that it can be scraped off? Not sure what is best done here!!

Clearly once it's off, I need to access whether the joists need replacing or treating to prevent any re-occurrence of it returning

Thanks

 

[Lower]

Post some photos. You may have dry rot.

 

[cosmarchy]

I will try and get some pictures when I am next there, probably at the weekend...

In the meantime, I've had a look at the what dry rot is and I can say it is most definitely like this:

only in my case 1000 times worse and on joists... (and a window frame it turns out!!)

I have used Cuprinol Five Star as a preventative measure but I suspect this place hasn't seen any preservatives whatsoever
Could I use Cuprinol now or does this only work for prevention? I'm not in a position yet to replace the joists but I need something that will firstly prevent any further spread and secondly remove the mold so I can see what the damage actually is...

I don't suppose there is anything out there which will not only kill the fungus but also make it fall off is there ???

 

[Deleted member 174758]

For the stuff to spread there is a leak (it needs water), so the first thing to do is to find and fix the leak(s). It won't fall off - it is growing through the timbers and generally extends for up to a metre beyond the visible surface damage. We normally don't treat it, we fix the leaks and cut the damaged pieces out and replace them - any timber with a moisture content over 16% can support this stuff - dry timber is in the 8 to 12% MC range

Or in other words, Cuprinol won't help much

 

[cosmarchy]

Thanks guys.

Looks like I'll have to address this sooner rather than later than I planned