treating wood with antifungal paste stuff

[piapiapiano]

Me again...

One of the things we have to do to get the retention back on our mortgage is have the wooden beams in the attic treated with some kind of antifungal paste stuff. The beams are currently painted black. We're planning on removing this paint with Kling-Strip. Should we do this before or after the paste treatment?

And have any of you had experience of this stuff on wooden beams? Does it change the appearance? Am I going to feel sad about it afterwards?

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The renovations are continuing., by the way. Photos online at http://s25.photobucket.com/albums/c51/piapiapiano/House stuff/ We're about to start on the exterior this week. Very exciting!

 

[biffvernon]

What nonsense. If the roof is sound, watertight and ventilated, the beams won't rot. Your mortgage company need challenging.

 

[piapiapiano]

Unfortunately the roof is not in a good state. There were holes by the chimney stacks on both sides. We've had one repaired, and the other will be repaired next week. But there is clear evidence of rot at either end of one beam, which is why the mortgage company want us to treat the wood.

I have neither the time nor the energy to challenge them on this. It was hard enough getting them to lift the requirement for an injected DPC.

I just need to know if it's best to do the Kling-Strip thing before or after this fungicidal treatment.

 

[MdB]

Klingstrip before as otherwise the "treatment" won't get into the wood and / or will be removed when you klingstrip.

By the far the most important thing you can do is to make sure that your timbers have dried out and stay dry. This will stop the rot. Spray if you want to but be warned that you will be bringing some nasty chemicals into your house and it is unlikely that the bits that really need to be sprayed can be without taking your home completely to bits first.

Read the comments that Matt Green has posted here on rot. He is very much the expert.

 

[Flyfisher]

I can understand the frustration here. The good thing is that treating the wood shouldn't do any real harm, unlike an injected DPC, even though it may be a waste of time and money - but I can see how that could be incidental compared with releasing the remainder of the mortgage funds. I guess there's right and wrong and then pragmatic.

As for the klingstripping, I can't see the point of treating painted timbers - won't that just treat the paint?

But, surely the mortgage company will require some form of independent certification that the specified work has been correctly carried out? Or is the company happy for you to DIY and self-certify? If it has to be an independent company then they are the ones who will have to decide how to carry out the work and I would be asking them for full details of what they propose to do.

 

[Matt Green]

But there is clear evidence of rot at either end of one beam, which is why the mortgage company want us to treat the wood.

I just need to know if it's best to do the Kling-Strip thing before or after this fungicidal treatment.

Annoying. Is the beam still structurally sound at the bearings? Slightly more important than the presence of fungi in the bearings IMO. Strip the beam first then apply the paste, it will halt the spread of fungi in the bearings but then so will fixing the roof.

Unfortunately, as with all these sort of treatments, they are best applied in the places where they cannot be applied easily/at all- in this case the bearings within the walls.

M.