Services - Central Scotland Dry and Wet Rot Treatment

Services

Treatment of Fungal Attack (Wet & Dry Rot)
Fungal attack occurs primarily under conditions where the ventilation is restricted and high humidity. The "best" moisture conditions for decay to occur are 25 -40% moisture content.

Dry Rot Fungi	Fruit Bodies	Mycelium/Strands	Timber
Dry Rot (Serpula lacrymans)	Fleshy soft plate. Yellow maturing to red with white or grey margin. Produces masses of red spores which settle everywhere.	White sheets of mycelium with patches of yellow/lilac especially when exposed to light. Also produces strands which are white or grey up to 6mm thick. When dried out becomes brittle.	Decays to dull dark brown, very light and crumbles easily. Deep cracks along and across the grain with cuboidal cracking. Often distorts the shape of affected timber.

Wet Rot Fungi	Fruit Bodies	Mycelium/Strands	Timber
Cellar Fungus (Coniophora puteana)	Olive green/olive brown. Flat with lumps. Raely found.	Slender vein like. Yellowish but brown/black when mature. Mat be on timber or wallpaper or tile backing.	Most common fungal attack. Cuboidal cracking which is often hidden under a thin skin of sound timber.
White pore or mine fungus (Fibroporia vaillanti)	Lumps, sheets or plates. White/cream to yellow. Numberous minute pores.	White/cream sheets or fern like growths. the strands, white to cream remain flexible.	General to softwood. Damage similar to dry rot but timber is lighter in colour and cracks are not as deep.
Donkioporia expansa	Thin, hard, brown or buff. Looks like wood in layers with pores.	Yellow to red brown thick felted growth. Follows contours of timber. No strands.	Normally found on hardwood especially oak. Timber becomes bleached and lint like. Looks stringy with white fibres.

There are many species of wet rot but all require realtively high moisture levels in timber (above 30%) for development. Unlike dry rot any wet rot will be restricted to areas of high moisture content.

As the treatment of dry rot is more extensive and therefore more expensive than wet rot treatment is essential that correct identification is made.

Insect Attack

Common furniture beetle
"Woodworm" is the most common cause of insect attack of softwoods in buildings, and is often to be found in structural timbers, roofs, floors and joists. The female adult beetle lays her eggs onto the susceptible timbers, and they hatch into larva which in turn burrow into the timber, gradually weakening it. This process can take at least three years, with the larvae growing to a length of 2.5mm. After the pupal stage, the adult beetles emerge from the timber through a 2mm flight (exit) hole.

Powder post beetle
This beetle attacks the sapwood of larger-pored hardwoods, and is more commonly found in flooring, plywood and furniture.

Wood-boring weevils
After the Furniture Beetle, wood-boring weevils are probably the most common timber pest. They are commonly found attacking partly decayed wood, with both adults larvae causing the wood to break down by burrowing, principally along the grain, and leaving thin paper walls of wood separating the borings. of more commonly found in flooring, plywood and furniture. Flight holes are ragged in outline and less than 2.5mm in diameter.

At Home Protection Services we have years of experience in dealing with all extremes of both fungal and insect attack - call us to ensure that your timber treatment requirements are fixed properly.

Home Protection Services, 49 West Bridge Street, Falkirk. FK1 5AZ
Tel: 01324 627215 Fax: 01324 627215
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