The Life Cycle of Timber Rot

Spores, like tiny seeds, get carried around by air currents all the time. When they land on damp timbers they germinate by creating a hypha, which continue to grow to form a collection of hyphal threads more commonly known as mycelium. As the mycelium grows it feeds on the cellulose, hemicelluloses and sometime the lignum proportion of the wood.

As the rot develops and grows, strands form across the timber and can sometimes spread over masonry. The job of the strands is to find more moisture and other timbers which can feed the rot.

The final stage of rot is when it develops fruiting bodies. At this point the rot has usually matured and as it does it looks to spread to new timbers further away. Within the pores of the fruiting bodies, millions of rot spores are created which eventually spread to start the process all over. As this process continues to develop, this places a much higher risk on the formation of fungal timber decay in buildings and houses.