Summary

Wet rot is a very simple: it's damaged timber that is either adjacent to damp or is in standing water. Nothing more than that. Although this is good news the bad news is that the cause of wet rot is normally structural: water is getting at the timber somehow and until this is dealt with it won't get any better and there is a bigger problem in the form of dry rot which is real trouble.

Symptoms

Timber affected by wet rot will be:

Prevention

The best way to avoid wet rot is to prevent the water gettting at the wood in the first place. There are several ways in which the water can get in (see damp section) and don't over look condensation as this can be over looked can this affects window sills in poorly ventilated rooms notably the kitchen, bathroom and bedrooms.

Treatment

Get the wood out of the water!

Not surpringly this is the first cause of action and takes in the form of a survey to find out where the water is coming in. This is very important as the scope of the damage could be very dangerous to people in the house is supporting timbers have been affected.

With the scope of the damage reported on clarified the all affected material needs to be removed and replaced with the problem of water getting solved at the same time. The amount of material that needs to be replaced can be far more than just the affected area as wet rot may have caused structural damage to other areas of the building but lets hope not.

If you think you are suffering from wet rot then give us a bell and we can let you know the state of damp in your house.