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wrote:
Brian G wrote:

Phil,

In my experience, there is only ONE way to treat *true* dry rot -
and that is to be drastic.

Very briefly:

Remove and replace ALL timber within the infection area and upto 3
feet (1metre) away from the last signs of the infection and burn it
- even if its not showing signs of dry rot.

binbags are somewhat more convenient disposal I find.

Great until the spores spread the rot around a little.

Hack off ALL the render and plaster within the area stated above and
dispose of it carefully (try not to drop it around the house).

no need.

Yep - there is a need, the mycelium can and does spread under the render.

Properly treat ALL the wall on the exposed parts with the correct
chemical solution.

no need. No plant life can survive being dried out.

Dry rot actually sucks the moisture out of what it is infecting - so even if
you cure the damp you've still got to kill the mycelium.

Treat ALL new timber again with the proper solution.

or if its a wet prone room, get tanalised timber.

Fair enough on that one.

Mix a dry rot killer with the render and then re-render the exposed
walls.

way off

Nope, exactly right, after spraying the brickwork.

Ensure that all ventillation grills are open to ensure a good
airflow.

Bear in mind that *true* dry-rot fungus will spread through
brickwork, stonework, render etc to infect timber far from the
original site if not treated properly.

only if you dont fix the damp. And even then it can only grow on damp
wood elsewhere

See elsewhere above.

Again, in my experience, if the infection is fairly serious, I would
advise that you contact a specialist firm to carry out the chemical
kill procedure for you, as they have the expertise to do the job
properly and will usually give a guarantee on the work they have
done - the added bonus is that the will correctly identify the rot.

you dont work for one of these ripoff companies do you?

Nope, just retired from a building maintenance environment where as a
chippie and a general formeman I had the dubious honour of working on well
over fifty houses infected with various levels of dry rot.

With regards to my statement of *true* dry rot - there is wet-rot
fungus that looks similar to dry rot and the simple cure for this is
just to eradicate the incoming moisture and the job is done - after
replacing the rotten timber.

no, there is no type of dry rot that survives dryness. The solution is
always dryness.

See eslewhere above

As a matter of interest, I have seen new floors and windows replaced
in a house where the dry rot had not been properly treated, and
these lasted all of two years before needing to be done again - it
was expensive as the rot had progressed to other areas as well.

of course, if you dont fix the damp, that will happen.

The damp was fixed in the original area - but someone (not I) took the
decison that the rot wasn't bad enough to go the whole hog.

Sounds like someone's been talking to a dry rot treatment salesmen.
This advice is quite off track, and the facts wrong.

Talking to the tech-reps (not salesmen) and the bodies that actually did the
spraying along with a few experts NOT connected with the dry-rot companies -
we had a whole department of these hanging on 'coat-hangers' just waiting
for us to call on their services.

It can be difficult to get a shower room dry if you have several
people taking showers. The best solution to this is a humidistatic
dehumidifier.

I've yet to see a dehumidifier completely dry a room where there is a
constant dampness and not hermetically sealed.

Brian G