Dry rot wasn’t music to anyone’s ears
Our Welsh team were recently called in to the home of the Seindorf Beaumaris Band. The Beaumaris Brass Band is regarded as one of the finest ensembles in the whole of Wales, and is proud to be music ambassadors for the island of Anglesey. Whilst the band thrives on serving the local community, through entertainment and education, it has also gained a national and international reputation for musical excellence.
Blowing our own trumpet
Its ‘home’ is The Music Centre in Beaumaris and we were asked to examine fungal decay to the entrance of the building. Surveyor Mike Jones said: “The problem appears to have been caused by a blocked hopper and cracked and defective rainwater gutters which had allowed excess moisture to penetrate the building fabric over an extended period of time. Our initial survey found an extensive outbreak of the true dry rot fungus which had already travelled in a sideways direction to affect the skirting board, windows, lintels and rooftimbers of the adjacent music room. Prompt action was needed to prevent further damage.”
Active dry rot may fill a humid cavity as a cotton wool-like mass, or grow across the surface of the timber as grey-white skin. It has a fresh white or greyish appearance and the relatively impervious outer layer, together with an unusual alkaline tolerance, allows dry rot to survive in the mortar layers within masonry and walls. It is potentially capable of considerable destruction.
Our team had to hack off wall plaster and renew the decayed timber to 1m beyond the outbreak, this required specialist epoxy resin repairs to the principal rafters. A surface application of fungicidal fluid was applied to the brickwork and we wire brushed the surfaces. Holes were formed at 450mm staggered centres in walls and a fungicidal fluid applied to each hole together with a surface application to the hacked off walls.
We renewed the stated timbers ensuring that all contact surfaces were coated with a bituminous solution and capped or laid on PVC DPC membrane. All exposed timber was treated with our fungicidal fluid.
Only the musicians will bring the house down
All timbers reinstated that were in contact with, or adjacent to areas of brickwork that were not re-plastered, received an application of Peter Cox Timber Water Repellent/ Fungicidal fluid. All affected wall areas previously plastered were treated in accordance with our standard specification incorporating DryWall Coating System.
Mike said: “The client was very pleased with the results of our work and it seemed we definitely hit the right note.”
