Dry Rot

Serpula lacrymans

Appearance

•  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.