Isleworth is a small town within the London Borough of Hounslow. It is made up of a variety of different types of property including one of the last surviving Country Estates in London, the wonderful Osterley House in Osterley Park. Situated on the edge of London, Isleworth is a very popular area to live for people working in the city, so for many years, local damp and timber specialists, Tapco HomeDry have been preserving property in Isleworth.

Recently we were called by a very worried client who advised us that whilst moving a heavy item of furniture the corner of the floor dropped by approximately 25m/m to 50m/m, lots of red dust was covering her carpet and ‘mushrooms’ were growing out of her shirting boards and floor. Our experienced office staff in Thames Ditton immediately recognised these descriptions as an attack of Dry Rot and advised the worried client that she should have us carry out a survey without delay.

Our Tapco Survey

An appointment was made for one of our Property Care Association (PCA) surveyors to attend the property and provide a detailed report and recommendations for eradicating this most serious and damaging of all wood rooting fungi.

On arrival at the property our experienced damp and dry rot surveyor immediately confirmed that there was indeed a virulent attack of dry rot (Serpula lacrymans) and proceeded to expose the extent of it and assess the damage. Floorboards were lifted as required to inspect the sub-floor timbers and moisture readings were taken using an electronic moisture metre. The readings obtained indicated that in fact there were two problems, rising damp due to there being a breakdown of the original bitumen damp proof course and rain penetration due to a broken rain water gully pipe.

It is important to know that when carrying out a dry rot survey including a damp survey is just as important because the source of moisture must be correctly diagnosed and rectified immediately.

Dry Rot and Damp Proofing Remedial Work

Tapco HomeDry issued our client with a very detailed report which included several images and recommendations on exactly what remedial work and treatment was required. Our recommendations included:

• Removing all of the affected and weakened flooring and joinery timbers
• Remove the wall plaster to 300m/m beyond the last visible sign of dry rot mycelium
• Applying high performance masonry fungicide to the exposed masonry
• Injecting a new chemical damp proof course to the base of the damp walls
• Replacing the damaged rain water gully
• Replastering the walls in accordance with our specialist specification.
• Replacing all the timbers using new pre-treated timber
• Replacing joinery and leaving in a fungicidal paint

All of our remedial work was carried out to the complete satisfaction of our client and covered under the terms of our 20 year guarantee which our client protected with The Guarantee Protection Insurance (GPI).

As a member of Trustmark (Government Endorsed Standards) you can trust your local company Tapco HomeDry to do it right so call us first on 020 8398 6663.