Dry rot lives on damp. We treat both.

The first signs

Timber that cracks into small cubes and crumbles under a finger, in a cellar, under a floor, behind panelling. White or grey cotton-like strands on timber or brick. Sometimes a rust-brown pancake with a white edge, shedding rust-coloured dust. A persistent mushroom smell in a closed room.

It likes damp, dark, airless places: cellars, blocked underfloor voids, under bathtubs, timbers built into a damp wall.

What we do

We identify. Other fungi damage timber without being dry rot, and the treatment differs. In doubt, a sample goes to a laboratory.

We cut the water. Rising damp, ingress, a leak: the source of moisture feeding the fungus is treated first, or it comes back.

We remove and treat. Affected timbers are taken out with a margin beyond the visible traces. The masonry is treated with fungicide, at the surface and by injection depending on how deep it has gone.

We replace and ventilate. Treated timber, underfloor void reopened, air moving. Then a check a few months later.

What to know

Dry rot crosses masonry joints to reach timber further away, including at the neighbour's in a terraced house. It does not attack concrete or brick themselves; it uses them as a path.

It is not toxic to people. The danger is structural: a floor or a beam can lose its strength with nothing showing at the surface.