Website design By BotEap.comDry rot is a very common problem in the Northwest because it rains a lot. Moisture and lack of air circulation is all it takes for dry rot to appear on wood. Wood rot problems are especially dangerous when rot appears in the wooden structure of the house. Once the fungus begins to grow on your structure, it destroys the wood tissues that are responsible for making the wood structure firm and solid. Dry rot causes the wooden parts of your home to rot, soften, lose their shape, and lose their ability to withstand the pressure of weight. This leads to the house tipping to one side, falling floor level, sagging in open wooden spans (such as garage door openings), and warping of the roof structure. All of these signs are warnings to us that something is happening within the structure of our house and something may be affected by dry rot. The rot problem should be resolved immediately once it has been determined!

Website design By BotEap.comIf you notice a sunken corner on your windowsill, it didn’t show up there overnight. If you can see rotten particles with the naked eye without disassembling the wall, it means that the rot has been inside for quite some time and is at the stage where the rot begins to affect the surfaces that are visible. A sunken corner of the windowsill may not just be a simple repair of a small part of the windowsill, it can also mean that the entire window frame is affected by dry rot and needs to be repaired. This is why it is very important to repair damaged areas once you suspect you have a problem.

Website design By BotEap.comNow repairing dry rot damage is not a simple procedure, most of the time dry rot has to do with the structural frame except when only the siding trim is rotting. But in most cases, dry rot reaches its structure. You need to realize that the part of your wall that is rotting is actually supporting the wall itself, so if you start removing the posts to replace them with a new frame, the entire wall may collapse. It is the same floor with the floor joist system or roof trusses. Therefore, dry rot repairs often require the construction of additional support walls or the installation of support posts to support the rest of the structure while you perform wall rot repairs. Things get more complicated when it comes to two- or three-story houses. Then you have more weight pressing against the damaged walls and you need additional support to support all that weight. Dry rot repair requires not only good carpentry skills, but also engineering knowledge of weight distribution and bearing.

Website design By BotEap.comOne more important thing about dry rot and its cause, which I must mention, is the vapor barrier in the house. Since the vapor barrier is the bottom layer that separates your siding and its frame when placing the vapor barrier on the wall before installing your siding, it is very important to choose a good quality product that really allows your structure to “breathe” . . This means that the vapor barrier will allow air to circulate behind your siding. A widely used product brand is Tyvek. In my opinion, it is the worst choice you can make when choosing your vapor barrier. Tyvek is actually a plastic-like product that resists moisture quite well, but doesn’t “breathe” very well, so if any moisture gets trapped behind the Tyvek vapor barrier, there’s almost a 100% chance that the rot fungus dries up on your body. walls. An even worse situation is that of new construction homes.

Website design By BotEap.comSince construction in the Pacific Northwest does not stop during the rainy season, houses are being built in all conditions. So imagine when Tyvek or other low-performance vapor barriers are installed directly on soaked plywood, all that moisture has no way to escape. Basically, you have the conditions for dry rot right from the start. But you will notice dry rot only years later, when the rot has caused extensive damage to your structure. So my advice would be to use a rainscreen system on your walls or a high quality vapor barrier like Benjamin Obdyke’s HydroGap. HydroGap has plastic bumps, making it an uneven surface that allows air and moisture to travel between those bumps and drain away from the building. HydroGap is made of a fabric-like material that “breathes” better.

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