Dry Rot

Serpula lacrymans

Appearance

Dry Rot
  • Mycellium: white-ish yellow, yellow-ish brown.
  • Hyphae: yellow-ish brown or dark brown.
  • Sporophore: thin plate-like creamy yellow, then olive brown.
  • Spores: bulk spores are olive brown.

Lifecycle

  • Decay fungi are living organisms which send minute threads called hyphae through damp wood, taking their food from the wood as they grow.

Habits

  • It most often occurs in damp timber which is in contact with, or embedded in, wet brickwork or masonry.
  • Symptoms are: timber cracking, fruiting bodies, red dust or an acrid mushroom smell.
  • It has been known to transport water up three storeys of a building to an area where decay is occurring.