Basements & Crawl Spaces in PA & NJ with Dry Rot & Brown Rot

Dry Rot Issues In Philadelphia, Trenton, King of Prussia Being Solved

Damage from dry rot creates small, rectangular pieces of crumbling wood on the surface. Dry rot damage is often mistaken as a termite infestation.

One of the most severely damaging decaying forces on household wood in the world is Dry rot (also known as brown rot).

Far more destructive than Fire damage annually, approximately 20 billion board feet of timber are destroyed by wood rot in the United States each year!

10 percent of the annual wood production in the U.S. alone is Replacement wood used to repair damage caused by wood.

Dry rot problems have been credited for dealing about 150 million pounds worth of damage annually, in the United Kingdom, and wood rot in general leads to about 17 billion dollars of damage each year in the United States.

Eliminating, preventing, and controlling dry rot infestations is BQ Basement Systems long history of experience dealing in homes throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey, including Reading, Dolyestown, Valley Forge and Philadelphia and areas nearby. If you have a dry rot problem in your home and would like more information, call or e-mail us today for a free dry rot control estimate!

What is Dry Rot & Brown Rot?

Dry, cracking, rotting wood are terms to describe "Dry Rot". However, dry rot occurs because of a variety of brown rot species, most notably the "true" dry rot fungus known as Serpula lacrymans. It originally got its name from the thought that it did not need water to survive and used a fermentation process to survive. Since then research has proven untrue, and it is now called, more appropriately, "brown rot", although the old name hangs on.

Unlike other types of wood rotting fungi dry rot needs much less moisture--a wood moisture content of at least 28-30% -- to survive. While there is no official proof on the subject, many contractors have observed that dry rot also will not grow on wood with too much moisture.

Dry Rot or Brown Rot Problems and Identifying It In Pennsylvania and New Jersey

Damage from dry rot creates small, rectangular pieces of crumbling wood on the surface. Dry rot damage is often mistaken as a termite infestation.

The appearance of "red brick dust" is a common first indication of dry rot in a home. This is actually an accumulation of fungal spores that are covering the surface, waiting for the proper conditions to start to grow.

After a flooding, bursting washing machine hoses, a failed water heater, or leaking pipes an outbreak of dry rot commonly occurs several months later.

Common areas for dry rot are vented crawl spaces and basements with groundwater flooding.

Usually significant damage occurs before dry rot is detected. At this point, the following steps are recommended:

In Your Basement or Crawl Space Preventing Dry Rot Problems

Eliminating dry rot problems at their source BQ Basement Systems can help you. We can dry your basement or crawl space, eliminate flooding problems, and seal out humidity.

This not only eliminates dry rot problems, but also establishes an environment that is unreceptive to mold, wet rot, and mildew, while helping to prevent termites, carpenter ants, cockroaches, crickets, and other household pests.

We offer FREE, no-obligation dry basement and crawl space quotes in our service area. We can answer all your questions and point out the sources of humidity and moisture in your home.

We service Pennsylvania and New Jersey, including Elizabethtown, Lancaster, Cheltenham and Trenton and nearby.