Dry rot in joists Damp can be a major issue in the home. Find answers to questions or post your own here.

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We've had dry rot diagnosed in some of the supporting joists of a 12X12feet room. It looks like the rot has spread out from a chimney breast and roughly half way across the room so the proposed remedy is clearing the subfloor, removing the rot, treating brickwork, renewing timbers as necessary, spraying remaining surfaces and making good. The only quote I've managed to get has come back at £3k incl vat. I've organized another survey and quote, but the chap can't visit for another 2 weeks and I'm concerned at leaving it much longer. I've no frame of reference on this and thus I would grateful if anyone advise if the quote above is reasonable, way over or under.
Thank you.

[the specialist]

Hi, Have you any photo's you can post?
True dry rot although destructive won't get much worse in 2 weeks so don't panic. Also if it really is dry rot the remedy's you have mentioned don't appear to treat the cause. If timber is just wet from being in contact with damp masonry it usually is wet rot. Dry rot usually occurrs when there is also a lack of ventilation. This is an area in which I am qualified so please come back with more information.

Aidan

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Aidan thank you for replying, that's put my mind at ease about waiting for a couple of weeks. There appeared to be no ingress of water and a damp meter revealed no damp much beyond the site of the mushrooms. There transpired to be a load of rubble and building waste just under the floor, doubtless from previous renovations, and this left a very small air gap, 9 or 10 inches, under the boards. There is no air brick in the room as the floor is the same level as the outside side return. The surveyor concluded that this limited air flow, coupled with the lack of an air brick, led to the dry rot. That said, he did remark that he could feel a reasonable flow of air under the boards, but that he would expect this in a Victorian house with air bricks in other rooms.

Thus he suggests that all affected materials and organic matter will be removed, assuming this means the removal of the waste materials below the floor to increase airflow.

The mushrooms and spores are orange and the affected wood is desiccated. I'll post some pictures later today.

Thanks again for taking the time to read this and reply.

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[img]http://s575.photobucket.com/albums/ss197/biggusmickus/ [img][/img]

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[img]http://s575.photobucket.com/albums/ss197/biggusmickus/[/img]

[the specialist]

Hi again, How do I view the photo's?

Aidan

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Sorry Aidan I'm not sure of the process of posting pictures directly though if I go to http://s575.photobucket.com/albums/ss197/biggusmickus I can see the pictures that I've uploaded. If that doesn't work I'd gladly repost if someone could explain the process
Thanks