Dry Rot – An ‘Intelligent’ Fungus requiring intelligent diagnosis

The reason that dry rot is often so devastating is because of its ability to travel long distances as it searches for more and more timber to remove moisture from

Source: http://www.timberwise.co.uk/

As a Building Surveyor there are certain words that you know, just by saying them will strike fear and panic into the majority of members of the public.  Words such as subsidence or asbestos are examples which regularly appear in the news due to significant cost or health implications. In many cases however, potential subsidence or the identification of asbestos often result in relatively simple and cost effective solutions although it seems to be a natural human reaction to automatically think the worst.  The ‘term’ dry rot is also generally well known by members of the public, however unlike subsidence and asbestos the implications of the discovery of dry rot are often serious, depending upon the stage at which it is actually identified.

I was recently watching a well know property renovation programme on TV a few weeks ago where the Presenter had identified what looked to be dry rot on the ground floor of semi-detached three bedroom residential property.  Although, I agree that what he was looking at did appear to be dry rot, his description included, ‘feeding off concrete’ which is completely inaccurate as well as some of his terminology being confusing and wide of the mark.  TV programmes should be mindful of the information that they provide, as it is possible, dare I say likely, (just by the nature of the amount of viewers), that someone will act on what they are being told which could result in loss/damage.  In order to identify if or where dry rot may be present, it is useful to understand the conditions that dry rot needs to grow and thrive. 

Source: http://livingtherusticlife.com/

Dry rot is a fungus, often referred to as an ‘intelligent fungus’.  The reason dry rot is referred to as intelligent is because of its ability to travel across non-timber surfaces and to take moisture from timber.  What is left behind is dry friable timber that can easily be broken up with moderate hand pressure.  The reason that dry rot is often so devastating is because of its ability to travel long distances as it searches for more and more timber to remove moisture from. It is worth noting that when the dry rot fungus travels across non-timber surfaces such as bricks, mortar, concrete etc. it is just using these as a route or bridge to find other timber.  Dry rot does not ‘feed’ off these types of surfaces but carries moisture with it in strands which allows it to grow and spread. If left untreated dry rot has the ability to affect vast amounts of timber within a building, often resulting in extensive specialist remedial works which are not cheap.

Dry rot is a living fungus which will continue to grow by feeding off timber, which it will completely destroy be removing all of its moisture.  Without being too technical, there are four primary stages in the dry rot lifecycle.  The first stage is Spores. The spores are constantly present in the atmosphere however are only activated in certain conditions, which include timber and moisture.  For dry rot to thrive it’s ideal environment will include timber with a moisture content of between 22% and 25% warm humid temperatures of between 24⁰ and 30⁰, poorly ventilated areas and dark concealed spaces. This is why dry rot will often spread undetected in basement, floor voids, roof voids, behind plasterboard in timber stud walls and the like. As the spores start to become more concentrated they develop into small white strands known as Hyphae, which look a little like small white cob-webs.  These are reasonably easy to identify and a good indication of dry rot.

As the hyphae feeds off the timber it will extract further moisture from the timber as it continues to grow and become more concentrated in volume to a point where the hyphae mass develops into the next stage of the dry rot cycle, know as Mycelium. Visible large white mycelium strands can travel large distances in search of more timber and as previously stated can travel across non-timber surfaces in order to find new timber. In suitable conditions, mycelium will continue to exist and grow at a considerable rate within a building. Fungi prefers dark and damp areas with little or no air movement, therefore where these conditions change and threaten the fungus; its natural response is to create a Fruiting Body (Sporophore), and this is the final stage of the dry rot lifecycle.  Visually the fruiting body can take a number of forms, however will generally appear in ‘mushroom like’ form. The fruiting body is the fungi's response to a threat to its survival and its reaction is to throw out spores into the air which can be transferred to other vulnerable areas within the building, which allows them to germinate and create a new attack of dry rot, thus restarting the dry rot life cycle right from the very beginning.

The dry rot lifecycle described above demonstrates how the fungus can spread so quickly and how much damage that can be caused if left undetected. It is possible to treat dry rot however this requires specialist knowledge and something that should not be attempted ‘on the cheap’.  If all traces of dry rot are not dealt with then all that will happen is the fungus will continue to grow and spread and start to affect any new timber that may have been installed. The steps below provide an indication of remedial works to deal with dry rot, however please bear in mind that this is indicative only and specialist advice should be sought in all situations:

1.   Deal with the moisture source

2.   Brush down any exposed masonry to remove visible surface fungal growth

3.   Deep-drill masonry at regular centres and irrigate with fungicidal wall solution

4.   Sterilise all exposed masonry surfaces with fungicidal wall solution

5.   Remove all affected timber including a minimum of 1m past the last identifiable location

6.   Dispose all affected timber from site

7.   Provide new treated and primed timber where previously removed

8.   Spray all new and adjacent timbers including cut ends with fungicidal spray

9.   Re-plaster where required using a cement and sand render mix

10. Ensure adequate ventilation is used

Dry Rot is easy to misdiagnose and I would always recommend that you engage the services of a professional such as a Building Surveyor for advice and guidance.  The short video below provides a good example of dry rot occurring in a residential dwelling and is well worth look. Many thanks to Bryan Hindle who has provided his kind permission for use of the video. Please also take a look at Bryan's excellent article on the following link

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Information/opinions posted on this site are the personal views of the author and should not be relied upon by any person or any third party without first seeking further professional advice. Also, please scroll down and read the copyright notice at the end of the blog.

Built Environment Professions - Part 3 - Mentoring - A Professional Necessity

New members of staff require time and if a mentor does not allocate sufficient time to train and supervise them then the consequences are likely to result in a demotivated member of staff who is not developing and likely to make mistakes. If this is the case an employer should question their selection of mentor or ask themselves if they have made provision to fulfill the role effectively with the mentor’s workload.

Source: http://caithnesschamber.com/

Any successful business will undoubtedly have staff development as one of their core business objectives and understand the importance of the continued professional development of their employees.  Although training and development should occur at all levels of a business, a key part of the process involves training of new and junior members of staff when they are embarking on their new profession/role for the first time.  These are the type of people who will be extremely ‘green’ and have maybe decided on a career change or just left education and think they are now ready to enter the stresses and strains of the professional world.  If we take a second to think back a few years (in some cases, like myself, more than a few years) to the time when this was us, you may remember feeling lost, often alone and generally overwhelmed at times. 

If your experience was anything like mine, you were thrown in at the deep end and allowed to sink or swim and basically learn by your mistakes.  Unfortunately, times have moved on and the litigious nature of the professional world, no longer affords us this luxury.  Nowadays organisations appear to be much more inclined to take the training of their newer employees much more seriously and often attach individuals to mentors.  Mentoring is defined by Eric Parsloe, The Oxford School of Coaching & Mentoring, as: "Mentoring is to support and encourage people to manage their own learning in order that they may maximise their potential, develop their skills, improve their performance and become the person they want to be’. The role of a mentor is therefore a significant one, usually allocated to an extremely busy individual who will be expected to work closely and oversee the activities of a new member of staff for a defined period of time.

Source: http://shetakesontheworld.com/

For mentoring to be effective it requires time and commitment from the mentor. However time is often a commodity in short supply and if the mentor is not aware or does not take account of the time needed to adequately fulfill their role then the results can be disastrous. Employers need to select mentors very carefully and try to ensure they are appropriately trained, they know what is expected of them and importantly the extra time needed to fulfill the role is taken into account in the mentor’s workload.  If an employer does not take account of these things when selecting a mentor then a number of things will happen.  Firstly, the allocated mentor will immediately feel that the employer is allocating them an additional responsibility with no consideration for their current workload.  Secondly, the new member of staff may be seen as a hindrance (which is actually true in the early days!). Finally the new member of staff, will pick up that they are unwanted, which will make them feel disillusioned and unhappy. This is unfair on the mentor and the employee and creates a situation where nobody achieves what they want.

A good mentor however is invaluable and will realise that every minute that they spend with a new member of staff will be repaid tenfold.  Having acted as a mentor on many occasions I soon realised that the first few weeks required some intensive supervision, which meant that I needed to put certain things on hold so that I could make enough time to allow this to happen.  In these first few weeks I would set a weekly timetable, which would also include time slots where I had arranged for members of staff in other parts of the organization to facilitate certain activities.  For example, I would allocate a day with administrators, so that an appreciation of filing, photocopying, incoming and outgoing post and other policies and procedures could be attained.  All of these are fundamentally important activities within the business.  I also arranged for time to be spent in other departments, so that an appreciation of the wider business activities was also attained.  If you do take the time in the early weeks to spend time to train and supervise appropriately, then you will find that your new colleague becomes an asset who you can allocate ‘real work’ too, which will help to develop them and ease the burden on you.  The problem with a lot of people, however is that they focus on the here and now and are too short sighted to see this!

It is also very important to make new people feel welcome and at ease in their new role.  Always remember that one day you had been in this position and that no matter how busy you are politeness and courtesy costs nothing.  As stressful as a work environment may be, there is absolutely no excuse for shouting or being rude to your colleagues.  I say this because in the past I have seen a number of members of staff almost reduced to tears as a result of being inappropriately spoken to by more senior members of staff.  This is totally unacceptable and in most cases was due to the fact that the member of staff had not been given adequate support and supervision from their mentor, which had resulted in a number of mistakes/issues occurring. New members of staff require time and if a mentor does not allocate sufficient time to train and supervise them then the consequences are likely to result in a demotivated member of staff who is not developing and likely to make mistakes. If this is the case an employer should question their selection of mentor or ask themselves if they have made provision to fulfill the role effectively with the mentor’s workload.

If you are currently acting as a mentor, I refer to the definition stated earlier and ask you to consider whether you are encouraging and supporting your colleague to help them manage their own learning in order to help them to develop skills to maximise their potential. Or, do you see them as a burden that has been thrust upon you, where you have no time to help them.  If it is the latter, then I suggest that you speak to your employer and see if they can find someone more suitable, as this is not fair on the person you are mentoring.

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NEC Contracts – Who is Responsible for Managing Defects?

Guest article from John Peel BSc (Hons) – Assistant Lecturer at Coventry University

....when things go wrong between other people named in the Contract the natural reaction is to look in the direction of the Project Manager (PM) to resolve the issues. It could therefore be argued there is almost an implied duty on the PM under the NEC to attempt to resolve conflicts before they get to adjudication

Source: http://www.saice.org.za/

As a Project Manager (PM) under the NEC I was always glad that the role of defect management was essentially allocated to the Supervisor. Having been party to many long winded arguments over defects under other forms of contract such as the JCT it came as a breath of fresh air to pass the duty of notifying defects, carrying out tests and inspections and issuing the defects certificate etc. to the Supervisor.  Indeed simply not having to draft pages and pages of snagging was enough to make me want to embrace the new procedure under the NEC when I started working with it.

The role of the Supervisor defined by the NEC is that of essentially ensuring the works are built in accordance with the works information. The role of the PM whilst broader in overall scale than that of the Supervisor is essentially limited (when it comes to defects) to the actions of the PM under clause 40.6 and 43.4 as well as the duties when accepting defects under clause 44 and dealing with uncorrected defects under clause 45.

Why then have I recently been involved in long winded protracted arguments over defects under the NEC option A contract? Something must be amiss!

The alarm bells first started to ring when the Supervisor and Contractor could not agree if a defect actually existed. The issue related to an element of the works being designed by the Contractor. The works information contained a specific thickness of material on a drawing but an overall requirement in specification to build to a specific standard of thermal efficiency. Both drawing and specification was included in the Works Information. The Contractor had altered the thickness of material but achieved the required thermal standard. The Supervisor notified a defect when he measured the thickness of material and found it to be not the same as stated in the Works information. The Contractor pointed to the fact the standard had been achieved and that the difference in material thickness had no adverse impact on the building. The issue had not been apparent in any design the Contractor had submitted for acceptance.

Source: http://www.ty-newydd.com/

The relationship between the Supervisor and Contractor was already strained at this point and the Supervisor was adamant that the change in material thickness was not “in accordance with the Works Information” and as such it was a defect. The notification was duly issued for the Contractor to correct it. The Contractor then made the argument of “inconsistency between the documents” under clause 17.1 as the specification was a performance specification allowing the contractor a degree of flexibility and the drawing gave a specific thickness thus conflicting with the flexibility in the specification. The Contractor then sought an instruction from the PM resolving the inconsistency. One interpretation of the apparent inconsistency was that both documents are read in conjunction with each other. So the Contractor has the flexibility of the specification to select products and comply with the standards but the thickness shown in the drawn information should be adhered to as a minimum and thus there is no inconsistency. However, playing devil’s advocate one might also look at the above scenario and think that as long as the Employer is not in any way at a loss as a result of the change and the performance standards are complied with then the process of achieving the end result is the Contractor’s to manage. After all that is essentially part of the process of design and build.

As PM I could see both sides of the argument. I suspect that had relationships on the project been better, an amicable solution could have been found. However, no agreement was reached and with the defect correction period nearly up the Contractor and Supervisor were becoming more animated in their dealings with each other. Eventually, I was asked to decide who was right and who was wrong which brings me to the crux of the matter from the perspective of the PM.

Contractually there is no role in clause 40-45 for mediation by the PM in disputes over defects. The only negotiation the PM need actually carry out is that related to agreeing to accept defects. We could not reach any such agreement in this case because clause 44.2 requires both the PM and Contractor to agree to consider a change to the works Information to correct a defect. The Contractor did definitely not agree to any such change! Ultimately the process would have been to wait until the defect correction period expired and then apply clause 45 to the matter (dealing with uncorrected defects). If the Contractor is unhappy with the results he has the option of Adjudication under the Contract.

However, there is the concept of a spirit of mutual trust and co-operation to consider. In this instance should the PM acting in such a spirit mediate between the parties to find an amicable solution before the matter gets to Adjudication? This is a difficult point because you cannot “force” co-operation. However, I do believe that all parties have a duty to co-operate and also foster co-operation in others. When one can clearly see parties are not co-operating someone should probably step in to point this out. The onus on the PM to administer most aspects of the Contract also means that when things go wrong between other people named in the Contract the natural reaction is to look in the direction of the PM to resolve the issues. It could therefore be argued there is almost an implied duty on the PM under the NEC to attempt to resolve conflicts before they get to adjudication.

However, there are areas of the NEC where the duty of the PM to determine if actions are reasonable, or unnecessary are expressly stated. For example clause 40.5 require the Supervisor to carry out tests and inspections without causing “unnecessary delay” to the Work. If the Contractor believes that in doing tests and inspections the Supervisor has caused unnecessary delay then he can notify the PM of a compensation event under clause 60.1.11. It then falls on the PM to determine if the delay was necessary or unnecessary.  The PM must also decide if other failures by the Supervisor to act in accordance with the Contract are compensation events although these are far more objective (clause 60.1.6 for example is easy enough to determine simply by looking at the period for reply and the date of a communication).

In conclusion, the PM takes a backseat to the Supervisor when it comes to the process of defects management and the role is strictly speaking limited to a specific few functions. However, the PM might well become more heavily involved in defect management if the process breaks down and the parties are no longer able to co-operate or begin to act unreasonably or cause unnecessary delay. It might well therefore be wise for the PM to take an active role in overseeing defects management to be able to proactively head off issues before they deteriorate. This is certainly the lesson I have learnt the hard way.

Please feel free to share this article and other articles on this site with friends, family and colleagues who you think would be interested

Information/opinions posted on this site are the personal views of the author and should not be relied upon by any person or any third party without first seeking further professional advice. Also, please scroll down and read the copyright notice at the end of the blog.

Built Environment Professions – Part 2 – Building a brighter future

Due to the decline in the amount of people choosing a career as a construction professional as well as the inevitable skills shortage that will ensue over the coming years, there is an argument for categorising certain building professional roles as ‘at risk’

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/

In my previous article I identified a number of quite alarming statistics that showed a 24% reduction in entrants onto undergraduate building related courses in the five years between 2007/08 and 2011/12. In addition, the number of enrolments onto Architecture, Building and Planning courses is much lower than the vast majority of other subject areas such medicine, sciences, business, social studies and many others.  I then went onto discuss a number of possibly reasons that may explain this, and emphasised the importance of addressing the decline in order to try to safeguard the future of the Construction Professions as we currently know them, in the UK. The main content of this article will therefore consider what can be done to encourage more entrants in to the Construction Professions. I appreciate that there are similar issues with recruitment at other levels of the construction industry, particularly some of the traditional trades (something I will tackle in a later article), however for the purposes of this article I want to focus on Construction professions.

1. Raise awareness of professional career opportunities with the built environment

As I mentioned in my previous article I regularly encounter Careers Advisors in Schools that have little to no knowledge of the range of career opportunities that are available within the built environment.  Careers Advisors are the people that interact with large groups of school kids and have the ability to influence their future career choice.  If we can raise the profile of built environment careers, particularly the relationship with Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics and educate Careers Advisors about these opportunities we then ‘have the ear’ of a much larger pool of potential future professionals.  It goes without saying that you cannot expect a young person to choose a career that they have never heard about!  We therefore need a national strategic approach to bring built environment careers into the classroom, targeting Careers Advisors as a focal point.

Source: http://www.realstreetstaffing.com/

2. Change the perception of Careers in Construction

Many young people I speak to think that a career in the construction industry only relates to wearing a hard hat, working on a muddy site, lifting heavy materials and primarily involving the physical construction of a building.  If this is the general perception of a career in the construction industry it is easy to understand why other subject areas may seem to be an attractive alternative choice for a young person.  Therefore most young people associate working in construction as becoming a bricklayer, carpenter, plasterer, plumber etc.  Whilst these are obvious career routes for which a person can enjoy and make a perfectly good living, there are many other professional roles that are available. Part of addressing this issue can be achieved by raising awareness of professional built environment careers as described in point 1 above, however more needs to be done to portray a professional career in the built environment for what it really is; ‘exciting, diverse and challenging which leads to good career prospects and a good salary’.

3. Encourage more females into Professional Construction Roles

Source: http://www.constructionweekonline.com/

The Guardian (online) published a recent article (21^st March 2014), entitled; ‘High-tech, multi-skilled construction industry needs more women’ (Link); Given the stereotype I have just described above it is interesting that the main image within the article is a female with a hard hat and safety goggles, standing in front of a half finished building! The article provides interesting reading and states;

‘Women are transforming the world of work. The number of women in the workforce has increased by more than 20% over the past 20 years, and today they make up nearly half of the workforce. More women than ever before are going to university and more are in vocational training. Women now account for 50% of all staff in financial services, 49% of all those working in the media, 46% all doctors, 27% of all police officers and 24% of all judges.

But not every industry is welcoming women into the workplace. As the latest Smith Institute report shows, construction remains largely a no-go area for women. Despite the fact that the sector is a major employer and is desperately short of skilled people, women only account for 11% of the workforce – and only 1% of the manual trades.

We need to attract this vast amount of ‘untapped’ female potential in order to address the disparity between the number of males and females within the construction industry. Clearly, encouraging more females into the Construction Industry provides a huge opportunity for the future of the Construction Professions.  Addressing points 1 and 2 above will help, however more needs to be done to promote these exciting careers to females who may not have contemplated this type of career before. A strategic targeted events programme, providing a ‘taster experience’ of different construction professional roles should be introduced to encourage more females into the construction industry, in addition to other events and marketing activities.

4. Government Support

Given the significant contribution made to the economy by the construction industry each year (circa 8% to 10% of GDP), the UK Government should be lobbied to provide support and assistance to safeguard the industry for future generations. Due to the decline of the amount of people choosing a career as a construction professional as well as the inevitable skills shortage that will ensue over the coming years, there is an argument for categorising certain building professional roles as ‘at risk’.  This should then attract funding to those identified careers to encourage more people into the professions and could take the form of grants or subsidies to help support tuition fees, funding of targeted marketing campaigns, funding of education programmes in Schools and Colleges and numerous other initiative.

The above represents a number of suggestions of how we can address the current decline in the numbers of people, particularly young people choosing a career as a construction professional. The suggestions are far from exhaustive and will hopefully act as a starting point and generate debate on how we can react to the problem in order to safeguard the future of the Construction Professions.  Ignoring the problem really in not an option!

Please feel free to share this article and other articles on this site with friends, family and colleagues who you think would be interested

Information/opinions posted on this site are the personal views of the author and should not be relied upon by any person or any third party without first seeking further professional advice. Also, please scroll down and read the copyright notice at the end of the blog.