🍄 DRY ROT WARNING ⚠️ 20 HOMES CHECKED 🏚️ #RisingDamp #DampProofing #DryRot #PCA #RICS #DampSurveys

00:46 Property 1 Victorian semi-detached - damp extension 01:00 Property 2 Victorian semi-detached - excess vapour, not damp proofing 01:25 Property 3 Lower ground floor flat - poor bathroom ventilation 01:34 Property 4 Semi-detached house - high subfloor humidity and trapped water 02:04 Property 5 Penetrating damp - brown staining and chimney breast heat loss 02:34 Property 6 Edwardian property - early-stage Dry Rot from neighbouring side 03:27 Property 7 Brown staining - penetrating damp from old zinc roof 03:49 Property 8 Victorian one-bedroom flat - damp proofing made things worse 04:05 Property 9 Rental property - blocked air brick, cold corner, poor ventilation 04:29 Property 10 Purchased property - condensation mistaken for damp, past Dry Rot signs 05:14 Property 11 Internal wall - hygroscopic salts and likely subfloor leak 05:46 Property 12 Tenanted lower ground floor - salts, mould, condensation and Dry Rot risk 06:08 Property 13 Party wall dampness - likely condensation and heat loss 06:55 Property 14 Internal wall - excess vapour, possible subfloor leak 07:39 Property 15 End of terrace - penetrating damp from blocked downpipe 08:23 Property 16 Chimney breast staining - likely residual damp and condensation 09:12 Property 17 Lower ground floor rental - mould from excess vapour 10:02 Property 18 Victorian property - cold corner and steel beam condensation risk 11:02 Property 19 Victorian end of terrace - hygroscopic salts and rot risk in subfloor 11:52 Property 20 Damp-proofed property - subfloor odour and likely historic rot from drain leak 12:23 Property 21 Repeat visit - Dry Rot controlled, but ongoing monitoring needed 13:38 Data loggers - comparing vapour levels across properties 20:02 Key takeaway - reduce vapour, improve ventilation, avoid damp proofing 20:47 Dry Rot warning 🪵🚨 Dry rot is one of the most serious hidden threats in buildings because it can destroy timber in subfloors and other concealed areas before the full damage becomes obvious. In this video I run through 21 recent properties, showing how often damp symptoms are caused by condensation, excess vapour, penetrating damp, leaks, and poor ventilation, rather than the usual sales-led recommendation of damp proofing. 🏚️ The most striking case is Property 6, an Edwardian house with early-stage dry rot. This was especially unusual because the fungal strands appear to have come through from the neighbouring derelict property, passing through the wall from the next-door extension. Bricks stacked against the rear wall were also restricting airflow, helping create the stagnant, damp conditions that dry rot likes. It is rare to catch dry rot this early, which makes this case particularly useful. 🔍 The video also shows the visual clues. Early dry rot may begin with cracking along the grain, while more advanced decay often produces cuboidal cracking. That more developed pattern appears later in other examples, including Property 10 and Property 12, where cracked skirting boards suggest past or developing timber decay linked to persistent moisture. 💧 Across the 21 properties, the root causes vary, but a pattern emerges: • Excess internal vapour from everyday living, especially where extraction is poor 🌫️ • Subfloor leaks or trapped water creating persistently damp voids 💦 • Penetrating damp identified by brown staining through walls ☔ • Cold spots and heat loss around extensions, chimney breasts, corners, steel beams and blocked air bricks ❄️ • Previous damp proofing hiding symptoms rather than solving the underlying moisture problem 🚫 🧱 Several homes had already been damp-proofed, but the real problem turned out to be something else. In some cases, damp proofing had made matters worse by reducing the building’s ability to absorb and release moisture naturally, increasing the risk of condensation and concealing ongoing dampness in the subfloor. 📈 The data logger section compares dew points across multiple homes. This helps show which properties have unusually high internal vapour levels. If internal dew point stays too high, especially compared with outside conditions, moisture is much more likely to condense on colder parts of the building fabric. ⚠️ One of the biggest warnings in this video is that dry rot can develop when hidden moisture is left untreated, especially in subfloors. That moisture might come from drainage defects, leaking pipes, trapped water, poor ventilation, or even condensation on cold services such as water pipes. Once timber stays damp for long enough, decay can begin - and dry rot is the most feared form because of how destructive and expensive it can become. ✅ Main lessons: 🪵 watch for cracking timber and distorted skirtings 💨 improve ventilation and extract vapour properly 💧 investigate leaks, drains and subfloor humidity 🏠 be cautious with damp proofing, especially where the root cause has not been identified 🔍 use evidence, including dew point and subfloor inspection, before recommending repairs