Hi,
I own a early c18th century cob house im Devon, lovingly 'upgraded' with cement render, a concrete floor, etc. in the 20th century. Remedial works begin next month; we have LBC to remove the cement render and replace with lime.
Stripped back areas of cob internally suggest some dampness but not too bad.
The house also has late 20th century basic softwood windows. These have, unsurprisingly, rotten. I was splicing in new timber (accoya) late last week when I noticed a small number of white tendrils poking out of the inside cob reveals, in the bottom corners where you'd expect damp. The reveals have been revealed for about two months. They're now pretty dry from what I can detect - dusty stuff removed (10cm depth) back to good solid cob.
First thoughts: Sh*t. Dry rot.
Maybe, but I'm not so sure. The adjaceny window timber showed signs of insect attack and brown rot but only where you'd expect it to get wet - window sills. Lashings of dry softwood higher up the frames untouched.
No signs of hyphae or mycellium on the wood itself. No cuboidal cracking. No friuting bodies. No musty smell (apart from damp cob smelling of damp cob!)
The strands were less than a mm thick, pure white and had been baking in the sun all day but still floppy not brittle.
So, if it is dry rot I've either been lucky and found it on day 1 or been lucky and found the very advancing edge from somewhere else.
Don't believe in luck so I'm hedging towards "not dry rot". (If I'm wrong so be it - not in denial, just statistics!)
Anyone else out there any experience of this sort of thing in cob?
Many thanks
Phill
p.s. Stupidly, I didn't take a photo before I cleared them away.
I own a early c18th century cob house im Devon, lovingly 'upgraded' with cement render, a concrete floor, etc. in the 20th century. Remedial works begin next month; we have LBC to remove the cement render and replace with lime.
Stripped back areas of cob internally suggest some dampness but not too bad.
The house also has late 20th century basic softwood windows. These have, unsurprisingly, rotten. I was splicing in new timber (accoya) late last week when I noticed a small number of white tendrils poking out of the inside cob reveals, in the bottom corners where you'd expect damp. The reveals have been revealed for about two months. They're now pretty dry from what I can detect - dusty stuff removed (10cm depth) back to good solid cob.
First thoughts: Sh*t. Dry rot.
Maybe, but I'm not so sure. The adjaceny window timber showed signs of insect attack and brown rot but only where you'd expect it to get wet - window sills. Lashings of dry softwood higher up the frames untouched.
No signs of hyphae or mycellium on the wood itself. No cuboidal cracking. No friuting bodies. No musty smell (apart from damp cob smelling of damp cob!)
The strands were less than a mm thick, pure white and had been baking in the sun all day but still floppy not brittle.
So, if it is dry rot I've either been lucky and found it on day 1 or been lucky and found the very advancing edge from somewhere else.
Don't believe in luck so I'm hedging towards "not dry rot". (If I'm wrong so be it - not in denial, just statistics!)
Anyone else out there any experience of this sort of thing in cob?
Many thanks
Phill
p.s. Stupidly, I didn't take a photo before I cleared them away.