Q. I have just had the surveyors report back on the house I am buying and it doesn’t sound good. The surveyor has reported serious dry rot in the ground floor timbers. How serious is this problem and is it easy to rectify?
A. Dry Rot is one of the two main species of fungus found in domestic property, the other being Wet Rot. Unfortunately for you, Dry Rot is the more serious of the two. Dry Rot grows in Stable damp conditions with no ventilation, and sends out roots through plaster and brickwork to infect other parts of the building. It can extend over materials such as brick or steel and penetrate behind plaster and through brickwork. The ability of Dry Rot Fungus to extend over large distances makes an attack very serious and difficult to eradicate. The removal of Dry Rot is a detailed process as not only do the infected timbers have to be removed and burnt but also all the strands in the plaster and brickwork need to be removed and the areas completely sterilised. I would strongly advise that you speak to a professional in this field to make further investigations as to the extent of the infection and the cost of the removal and further prevention.