Here is a bit of local 'wild' life that I hope you never see. Serpula Lacrymans. It was in a house in St Ives, for which we had surveyed and presented a report - at that time the house was free of such defects. It was a matter of applying for Housing Corporation grants for improvements generally, with some associated structural works and extensions. Unfortunately the grant application took rather a long time to process, due to various procedures and external intervention. When we finally got the go ahead, upon opening the property (having secured it from entry), we were greeted by this scene, a full fruiting body of dry rot. The house floor was covered with what appeared to be a red dust. It was spores from the fruiting body. The whole of the first floor had been attacked and the moisture sucked out of joists and boards, it was rather dangerous to walk on, but it had to be done, carefully in places. These spores should not be taken home, so clothing and shoes were intensely cleaned. Oddly, dry rot is not a natural growth in the wild, save for a handful of locations. The other problem is the mycelium. This was the worst case I saw, though not the most expensive to treat. A separate grant had to be sought.
