Time to stop the rot

摘要

Chemical remedial treatments for timber decay and damp problems are an unnecessary, avoidable expense in the vast majority of cases, yet architects and other construction professionals continue to waste thousands of pounds on treatments for refurbishment or redevelopment projects throughout the UK. At best, chemical treatments are expensive, and at worst totally unjustified. Thousands of woodworm treatments are specified every year, many of which are simply not needed. Inaccurate damp diagnoses frequently lead to money wasted on injected chemical damp courses. Our modern understanding of decay organisms such as dry-rot and wet-rot fungi has enabled building techniques to evolve, and traditional approaches - for instance, chemical treatments of dry-rot infected masonry - have been shown to be completely unnecessary.