Dry rot or not

[Gordy90210]

I have stripped out some flooring and joist where an old bath had been leaking and i have discovered this on the wall i the basement around where the wood was rotton.Is this drt rot or some thing else.There are no other signs of growths.This is all it looks like.The timbers that came out did have a cuboid type rot.More a wet rot type.I have attached a few pics in my album.

Untitled

• Gordy90210
• 2 Jun 2013
• 1

Untitled

• Gordy90210
• 2 Jun 2013
• 1

 

[pred]

Go to Yellow Pages and get a few timber and damp companies to come and give you quotes, they will then tell you what the problem is and more importantly what caused it.

 

[Gordy90210]

I am going to do that tomorrow but i just wanted other opinions.From what i have heard some companies will just scare you and charge you a fortune for the work.And i am still unsure what it is!

 

[^woody^]

The pictures are blurred

If you are referring to the brown stain on the wall, then that is not rot. Its a brown stain

 

[dann09]

In pic one, just below the opening you can see faint strands of what looks like dry rot.

The brown business i think i've seen before on basement walls - it used to be the "pre-condition" for what was called cellar rot. If examined very closely, it appears to have a tiny cover of furry fuzz. Typically, ground water (or a leaking drain) was penetrating the cellar wall(s).

 

[Gordy90210]

THanks Dann09.Thats just exactly what it looks like smalll strands covering the brown stain.Most of the brown stain is on an internal dividing wall.I am wondering if the toilet has leaked at an earlier date and that is what the stain has been caused by.What would the best treatment be for this.And is cellar rot something i should worry about and how would i treat it.

Many Thanks

 

[dann09]

We could better advise you if you could locate the larger area in question, in a scanned floor plan for instance.
You must reveal the total extent of the dry rot, or cellar rot, strands in the flooring timbers, skirtings and behind any nearby plastering.

Cellar rot seems to go by various scientific names, but it's a wood seeking and wood destroying fungus - altho not as virulent as dry rot.

Typically, we would reveal and remove all damaged material, wire brush down and spray with anti-fungal chemicals. We would also locate and remove any source of moisture, and provide ventilation.

 

[^woody^]

How you can tell definitively from those images, that the stands are dry rot, is beyond me

 

[dann09]

I've made no claim to "definitively" identify either fungus.
I qualified my claims with the terms: "what looks like" and "i think i've seen"

AAMOI: my eyesight isn't too clever but i'm routinely seeing fungal and water damage, sometimes on a daily basis.

FWIW: i do recall a recent, rather redundant, remark that:"It's knowing what to look for, rather than the looking"

 

[^woody^]

If it was suspected fungal attack, then that hyphae could be from one of many fungi, and saying it "looks like dry rot" is as useful as saying that it looks like candy floss.

 

[dann09]

What a sensitive and odd response. I usually expect better from you.
Yet you twice move the goal posts, and then make a silly attempt to attack the man.

Given the nature of the forum, many responses on here are tentative, but some are, as you well know, from tradespeople who offer tentative opinions formed by experience, and expertise.

 

[^woody^]

No

The OP posted a question "Dry rot or not"

Then you come along and make the statement "you can see faint strands of what looks like dry rot"

You don't qualify it, or state what other things it could be, just a straight forward "it looks like".

To me, that seems like a definitive response to the OP's question, and one which the OP has clearly latched on to with his follow up comments because you have confirmed his suspicions

It is you who is back-tracking with the "well it was only tentative" caveat

If this is typical of the damp treatment industry, then no wonder no-one trusts those companies