What Causes Timber Decay?
Timber decay is when wood is affected by conditions that cause it to deteriorate, such as damp. This can then, as a result, lead to fungal infestation such as dry rot, or even insect attacks such as woodworm. There are two main types of timber decay that can become a problem in your home.
What Are The Types of Timber Decay?
Dry Rot
Dry rot can be a tough problem to repair, but it can be done once you’ve found the source of the issue.
Dry rot fungus thrives in conditions that are both moist and unventilated. This means that dry rot generally occurs in areas within your property that aren’t necessarily in clear view, for instance, under flooring. Unfortunately, this means that dry rot can cause a lot of damage to your home or property before it is even recognised as an issue.
There are a few different methods to repair and prevent dry rot within your property, however selecting the correct way to fix it should be left to the decision of a trained professional so as to appropriate address the problem and prevent any further occurrences.
Wet Rot
Contrary to popular belief, wet rot is in fact a much more manageable issue to tackle than dry rot.
Wet rot occurs when there are large amounts of moisture in timber, which then causes the timber itself to naturally decay. High levels of moisture can normally penetrate timber via structural defects and the likes. It is important to seek out any vulnerable areas of timber to prevent this from happening. This includes but is not limited to: door frames, window frames, etc.
You will be able to spot wet rot in your timber quite easily. Timber that has wet rot is usually quite spongy as opposed to being solid in its intended state, and will be a darker
Any structural problem needs to be tackled at the same time as the timber is treated, otherwise the problem is likely to recur. Timber suffering from wet rot will feel spongy and look darker than the surrounding timber.
How Do You Repair Timber Decay?
As you can expect, this all depends on the severity of the decay or damage to the timber.
Minor damage caused by timber decay, such as rotting window frames, can sometimes be repaired quite easily with simple drying and resin treatments. This isn’t always the case, however the less damage there is, the easier it can be to fix.
Major damage generally calls for the whole piece of wood to be completely replaced as they extent of decay would usually deem the timber unfit for repair.
In any instance, it is always best to seek the advice of a professional so that you can confidently eradicate the root cause of the problem in addition to repairing any damage.
If you want to effectively eradicate the problem then as soon as you find the decaying timber, remove the moisture source. The second thing to do is call out a professional, who will then attempt to reduce any further risk of structural destruction.
Thinking about timber decay treatment for your home? Get Keith Rennie to assess your property, he will thoroughly survey the timber decay and wood rot issue and make a thorough, professional assessment on the relevant works required to repair any damage. Contact Keith Rennie today!
