Is there more than one way to rot a house?

Question

There is dry rot and rot from moisture. There are materials that come with desease from the building material yard and rot on your house. If you dry out an area it dry rots. If you let air get to it and it stays wet it absorbs moisture and rots. Are there standards or rules to keep exposed wood safe from rot. I am not even going to bring up bugs, that is a whoe other story.

Answer 1

I would guess that there are thousands of types of rot, but for your purposes there really is only one, as all act similarly unless you are scientist looking at the finest points.

There are two things to know Copper stops rot and Iron assists or even causes it. Because raw lumber has very little iron (the trees have the same problem so try to exclude it from anywhere but the leaves) any iron staining will make any rot critters very happy.

That gets to the water part, it the wood is only wet occasionally you will get dry rot, if it is wet all the time they call it wet rot, in any case if it is very dry at all times it will not rot.

There is wood that has been in the desert for hundreds of years without rotting, and indeed this is true in many old houses.

When in doubt pressure treated wood will stay good for a very long time unless it gets wet often enough to leach away all the protection. Copper Napthanate will kill rot on the outside but will not soak very far into good wood, and insects can stay beyond it.. A rusty nail will defeat all as it will counteract the copper, and favor the rot.

There are also organic poisons but copper is forever if it does not leach away.

Answer 2

Dry rot happens when untreated wood is exposed to moisture. The moisture promotes the growth of a fungus, and that causes the wood to rot away. Once it starts, there's not a lot that can be done except replace the wood with new stuff. Boatbuilders have tried different fixes, like ejecting the area with epoxy, but that doesn't work well on anything except very small areas.

The best fix is to eliminate the source of moisture if possible. It might be a leaky roof or water pipe. If you can't do that, or if it's outside, use treated wood. There are 2 grades - only one is rated for continuous contact with the ground, so choose what kind you get based on what it will be used for.

Answer 3

"dry rot" is a archaic, oxymoron. baring insects ,wood rot is caused by fungus,mold,mildew which all require moisture