wet or dry rot?

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pliers

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Hi, unknown to me the sealant around my bath/shower had been leaking, consequently the floor board supporting the bath softened causing the bath to spring slightly when i got in/out of it. After removing the bath to make repairs to the floorboard I noticed some fungus growth. These were strands, bright white in colour and fanned out between plaster and brickwork (see pics). After looking at various images of wet and dry rot i can't be sure which it is. Could you please take a look at the attached pics and advise me on the type of rot you suspect it is and any remedial action required. So far I have removed all loose plaster behind the bath and affected floorboards. I then liberally sprayed all areas with Cuprinol 5 star complete wood treatment.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated,
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Dry rot. Dry out the area thoroughly and make sure there are no ongoing moisture sources.
 
Pliers.

Loks very much like the mycelium strands of dry rot to me (it uses these to transport moisture to another part of the same body and hence why it can be such a problem - wet rot can't do this).

Can you take pictures of the affected timbers? the two types of rot affect the timber in different ways and this should be categoric.

If it is wet rot it's a simple case of cutting out affected timbers. If it's dry rot there a re a myriad of jobs to be done (finding all affected, splice repairs, fungicides etc etc.)

Also, the first response is correct but not comprehensive enough. You need to make sure it's all treated, otherwise it can come back. Obviously stopping the water source is the first step but the dry rot feeds on the timber and takes the strenght out. If it's under your bath, it may not now be strong enough to take the weight.

Alan
 
From your description of the growth I'm pretty sure that's dry rot. Wet rot won't spread between plaster and brick and tends to be more localised within the affected timber. Dry rot will send out white strands through the junction of brickwork and plaster searching for more timber to infect.

You need to make sure you've removed all trace of rot from any infected timber. Take up your floor boards and inspect the joists. If you have fungus growing on the floorboards the joists are almost certainly going to infected too.
If so you are going to have a lot of work. You'll need to cut back the joists 1m past the last trace of rot and treat the area with a dry rot treatment. Most importantly ensure the leak is sorted!
 
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Hmmm thought so, looks like i'll have to get tjhe pro's in :(
Many thanks for all you amazingly fast feedback.
Kind regards
 
Pliers, I've dealt with dozens of minor dry rot outbreaks like this and nine times out of ten if you remove the strands and any fruiting body, dry the area thoroughly and ensure there are no moisture sources the rot will not return. It is incorrect to say that dry rot can live on the natural moisture in wood. What it can do is take a moisture source from somewhere - i.e. a dripping tap - and transport that moisture elsewhere to apparently dry wood. In fact that's the very reason it is called 'dry rot'. But it does need a definite source of moisture. Without it the fungus cannot grow.

As for ripping out timber back to a metre etc. That's ancient thinking dating back to the 50s and 60s. Modern research shows that dry rot spores are present in the atmosphere almost everywhere. If conditions are right then the spores will take and given sufficient moisture, temperature, food etc. a fruiting body will develop. If that happens and the outbreak becomes extensive then the remedy might be a bit more drastic. But in your case you are miles away from that and simply cleaning up, drying out and removing the moisture is 90% certain to resolve your problem.
 
Thanks jeds, great link for Graham Coleman, lots of info there, maybe I won't have to tear the whole house down. I've just received an email from a guy at 'west twelve' claiming he believes it's a wet rot species, now i'm confused. Fingeres crossed he's right. For now all I've been able to do is to remove and replace the small amount of wood and floor boards affected leaving small gaps fro air circulation, liberally spray over the last few days with cuprinol 5 star treatment (prior to fitting floorboards), refit and reseal bath (for immediate personal hygene reasons). I've got the heating on full, left the bath end and side panels off for now to allow air circulation to promote drying out with the aid of a small fan. So i'll just sit back for a while and constantly monitor the area. I'll prob give it a month before I remove the bath and floorboards again to examine the area fully.
 
jeds said:
As for ripping out timber back to a metre etc. That's ancient thinking dating back to the 50s and 60s.
Click to expand...

Thanks Jeds, I bow to your greater knowledge on the subject :D Will file that away for future reference.

I guess if the joists are very badly dried and cracked then cutting back is still the most sensible option, although probably not an issue in this case.

Have to admit, when I found dry rot in my bathroom joists I didn't cut the joists back, but did injection treat them...thought I was cutting a corner though.
 
BRE recommend 300mm-450mm, although this is not a definite rule.
Floorboards for example may sometimes be left next to a rotted one.
 
Pliers

I still think it's dry rot, but oopen to other suggestions.

As previous post, the best way of defining is based on the cracking to the timbers and it's orientation.

Can you get some pictures up of this?

Alan
 
If you follow this link http://www.buildingpreservation.com/Rots.htm
and scroll down to 'The Mine fungus (Antrodia vaillantii -
formerly Fibroporia vaillantii) - a wet rot' this gives a picture of exactly what I found on the wood though not quite as severe damage to it. One more reason why I think it's wet rot is due to the strands being very flexible when dry unlike those of dry rot.
 
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