Potential Dry Rot

[lauren3172]

Our ground floor Victorian maisonette has previously had guttering and drainage issues on our external bathroom wall, which we believe had been resolved. However, we have recently noticed shrinking in a skirting board and orange dust in our bathroom cupboard.

The orange dust has led us on a Google journey to dry rot.

Earlier this week, we removed the skirting board and what we think looks like mycelium. The floorboards underneath seem soft. We also inadvertently hoovered up an orange mushroom in the gap below the removed skirting board. Since the skirting board is removed, we are seeing orange dust all over the bathroom.

That's prompted us to take another look at the drain and we have now found that there the drain sealant is compromised and water is getting into the walls/timber which we are getting fixed.

We are pretty convinced this is dry rot and are panicking around how quickly this may/is spead(ing). Damp and timber companies seems to be on a Christmas break. Any suggestions on what we can do?!

I have added pictures of the dust, skirting board and hoovered up mushroom.

 

[lauren3172]

Is there anything we could/should do until we can get a professional to have a look?

The kicker is that we have spent the past two years renovating and have just been able to pack everything away and will likely now have to rip everything out again!

 

[stuart45]

There's a few people on here that can give you some decent advice, but generally we wait for @Matt Green , as he's the real expert.
Until he comes along all I can offer is that you've done the first job in cutting off it's water source. Taking away the conditions for it's survival will kill it off.
You need to be careful when calling professionals in, as some are more unscrupulous than others and you can end up with a large, unnecessary bill.

 

[lauren3172]

There's a few people on here that can give you some decent advice, but generally we wait for @Matt Green , as he's the real expert.
Until he comes along all I can offer is that you've done the first job in cutting off it's water source. Taking away the conditions for it's survival will kill it off.
You need to be careful when calling professionals in, as some are more unscrupulous than others and you can end up with a large, unnecessary bill.

Thank you so much. Yes, the drain has been resealed today so hopefully that will starve it of water. We're just worried about how much damage has already been done!

 

[Matt Green]

Merry Christmas- that's dry rot. I will resolve to work on my bedside manner in 2025.

The good news is that your first paragraph explains what you are seeing:

Our ground floor Victorian maisonette has previously had guttering and drainage issues on our external bathroom wall, which we believe had been resolved. However, we have recently noticed shrinking in a skirting board and orange dust in our bathroom cupboard.

The orange dust are the spores produced by the sporophore or fruiting body of the fungus shown in your third picture. Before we go any further those spores are allergenic and are of a size that can influence the accute and chronic symptoms of a number of different respiratory diseases: wearing RPE is a good idea, as is a vacuum with a HEPA filter.

However, dry rot only produces spores and sporophores when it is stressed and dying. Thus when you sorted the water ingress the fungus can't survive much longer in it's current location and looks to go elsewhere by producing a lot (an awful lot) of spores on wrinkly plate-like structures that dry out and the spores are moved by air movement.

Best case scenario: it was just in the skirting, has run it's course. Leave the area to dry down as long as you can bear it before refitting any timber isolated from the wall with a DPM.

Having a healthy dose of optimism is vital for Period Property ownership, in this case though I would be inclined to carefully lift a few floorboards and see what's going on under the floor.

M.

 

[lauren3172]

Thank you for confirming and for the advice. We were pretty certain it was! That's reassuring about the spores only being produced once it is stressed and dying. It's been a bit of a panicked Christmas week.

That makes sense. I think we'll be taking up a couple of floorboards tomorrow and take a look. Thanks for the heads up about the spores being allergenic.

It's definitely been a bit of a journey with our property. Still love it, but it has been a source of sleepless nights!