Real house fungus is one of the most serious forms of rot damage that can occur in a building. It does not just attack timber. It can also send mycelial strands through brickwork, plaster and concrete to reach fresh timber, and can therefore appear a long way from where the infestation began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This guide shows you how to identify the damage, why the full extent must be assessed before treatment, and how to use Boracol 15 on both timber and masonry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because it moves. Most rot fungi depend on being embedded in damp wood to survive. The common house fungus, Serpula lacrymans<\/em>, forms mycelial strands that transport water and can grow through brickwork and concrete to reach healthy wood in a completely different part of the building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The strands can become as thick as a pencil, and under favourable conditions the infestation can grow by up to 1.5 metres a year. That is why you cannot simply treat what you can see: if you cut out the rotten beam and leave the rest, the infestation may already have taken hold in the adjacent wall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is also resilient. The common house fungus can lie dormant for up to ten years and re-emerge when the damp returns. Therefore, it is the source of the damp that determines whether the job is done, not whether the fungus looks dead. The figures are taken from Bergen Housing Inspection<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n