Dreaded Dry Rot
We were recently instructed by a private bank based in Cardiff to carry out a survey on a property they own in Wrekenton, Gateshead, The property is currently for sale with a local estate agent in Low Fell, Gateshead following the passing of their equity release client. The estate agent had informed them of some mould type stuff growing in the garage area close to the door which looked ‘nasty’. We arranged a date for me to pick the keys up from the estate agent and carry out a survey.
Early Tuesday morning I called down to Low Fell to pick the keys up from the estate agents then I headed back up to Wrekenton, Gateshead to survey the property. I’m not sure how other surveyors feel but I always feel a little bit hesitant when visiting an empty property, I’m not sure exactly why but there’s something a bit strange about putting the key in a door to a house you’ve never set foot in before and not knowing what to expect, I often find myself shouting…hello….hello is there anyone in, nobody has answered back yet and ive no idea what I would do if they did…probably run a mile ha!
Anyway, back to business, following instructions from my client I checked out the internal bay window area in the living room, nothing was obvious apart from a distinct lump in the concrete floor in the living room near to the bay window, I then went outside into the garage area and this is where the problem became more evident, the wooden supporting post surrounding the garage door had an outbreak of Dry Rot growing nearly full height, the Dry Rot had also grew alongside brickwork near to the wood strut, at the base of this wall was several pipes than ran from the combination boiler which was situated in the garage, these pipes (due to them being in an unheated garage) had foam lagging round them and the Dry Rot had grown round the lagging with a large fruiting body present.
This is the garage door frame, 6inch x 3inch timber reduced to nothing by Dry Rot
Dry Rot Hyphae growing on brickwork behind garage door frame
Dry Rot fruiting body growing on pipework which was leaking causing the outbreak
When investigating Dry Rot outbreaks the job of the surveyor is to determine what caused the Dry Rot in the first place, Dry Rot is usually associated with a leak from somewhere, this could be a leaking gutter, washing machine leak or water pipe, in this particular case it was easy to determine the exact cause of the Dry Rot. Where the central heating pipes returned through the garage wall into the living room a defective fitting ‘copper elbow’ was leaking and had been for some time, left unattended this had spread significantly over a that period of time.
The central heating pipes where they enter the living room have been chased into the concrete floor, they ran to a radiator in the bay window area, the Dry Rot had spread along these chases and into the living room floor eventually reaching the skirting boards, as you can see from the pictures below its scary just how aggressive this Dry Rot fungus can be, it had literally grown through the concrete floor and found its next victim. For more information regarding Dry Rot please visit http://dampandtimbersurveynortheast.co.uk/timber-survey/
Dry Rot Hyphae/Mycelium growing through cracks in concrete floor
Floor broken up exposing the extent to which the Dry Rot has spread
Skirting board removed exposing Dry Rot Hyphae on rear of skirting board