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fungus in crawl


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See it all the time on wood framing members in crawl spaces. The house I inspected today had a good bit thicker and more continuous brown fungus on a good bit of the joists. Question is, I know when the wood is damp, the fungus will or will help degrade the wood. But what happens if the moisture problem in the crawl space was addressed and the wood actually dried out. Does the fungus still "attack" or does it need that approx. 20% moisture level? Thanks

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It goes dormant and lies there waiting to get wet again. You're in North Carolina where you can practically wring the humidity out of your shirt some days. So, you dry out the crawlspace and think it's dead. Then you leave the crawlspace vents open and that humid air migrates into the crawl and condenses all over the underside of the house in that cool crawl. It wets the dormant fungi and it becomes active and starts to grow and spread some more until the moisture level drops again.

The cycle will continue to repeat itself until the stuff is killed and the area can't be reinfested. Pull down the insulation, dry out the crawl really well, treat the underside of the home with BoraCare, and then reinstall the insulation. Now the underside of the house is toxic to all fungi in perpetuity.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

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