Mushroom house is a typical wood destroyer. It harms buildings made of wood. It is activated in conditions of high humidity. Upon appearance, requires immediate intervention.
Mushroom House Fight
Botanical characteristic
The fruiting body of the porcini mushroom is lamellar, has the shape of a plate, wide. It is able to grow up to a meter in diameter. It has a fleshy leathery texture. Initially, the color is white, then in some places it becomes red-yellow, then - brown with a rusty tint. The surface is covered with worm-shaped folds on which spores are located, or looks like a speckled sponge.
The mushroom house is inedible.
Harm
The harm from the parasitic wood destroyer is due to the fermentation process, in which the woody organic matter dissolves. Under its influence, the destruction of wood layers occurs, loss of density and color change.
House mushroom prefers deciduous (often oak) and conifers.
The smell coming from rotting fruit bodies and spreading fungal spores are the cause of allergic reactions, respiratory diseases and asthma attacks.
Causes and symptoms
House mushroom develops abundant mycelium under a combination of favorable conditions for fruiting, including:
- high humidity, from 80% and above,
- warm air from 23 ° C,
- stale stagnant air
- lack of necessary lighting.
More often, the environment of mass appearance is dark and stuffy basements and cellars, places near beams, the lower surface of floorboards in contact with the soil layer.
Infection with a fungus also occurs when a working tool or work clothes with fungal spores come into contact during construction work.
Another way to transmit fungus is to store old wood near newly built structures.
Symptomatology
Initially, the appearance of a dangerous fungus is indicated by small whitish spots, which after some time merge into large size mucous spots or woolen deposits. With further development, a spider-like appearance forms a plexus of silver color, which grows, gradually covering the entire surface of the tree, thickens, acquires a gray color and silkiness.
The fungus can cover the entire surface of the tree
With the advent of the wood destroyer, other varieties of fungal parasites often come.
From the edges of the mushroom fruiting body, filiform formations moving along the wood begin to depart. This happens even through cracks and holes in the stone walls: they are looking for food. Wood, as it breaks down, turns brown, with time it turns into dried up dust, brittle and brittle. Sometimes this branching of fungal hyphae leads to a fall in the structure.
Especially easily, under the influence of the parasite, floorboards coated with oil paint are destroyed, the lower side of which is not illuminated and does not dry out.
The wood infected by the fungus is dull when tapped, it breaks when pressed. It becomes hygroscopic, actively absorbing water.
Control Measures and Prevention
Measures against wood destroyer are applied immediately when symptoms of its appearance appear.
Antiseptics
Effective tools to help get rid of ceps are fungicidal drugs. However, they are used with limitations: they have a toxic effect on humans and animals.
Among the commonly used methods:
- impregnation with a mixture of wood and coal tar - creosote,
- carbolineum treatment
- coating with tar and petroleum.
Mechanical methods
The mechanical method helps to get rid of the fungus at different stages:
- with shallow ingrowths of mushroom mycelium, only the upper wood layer is cut, the surviving residue is treated with an antiseptic,
- with a deep damage to the wood in the fight against house mushroom, only the removal of the entire infected fragment with the subsequent processing of the trimmed edges with antiseptic agents helps.
Disinfection
An environmentally friendly way that it is permissible to fight a parasite without harming the environment and humans is currently ultraviolet irradiation carried out in the process of regular quartzing of the room. A strong dose of ultraviolet light kills fungal mycelium and spores.
Prevention
The best way to combat house mushroom is prevention:
- At the end of construction work in buildings where the fungus is fixed, the working tool and protective clothing are treated with disinfectant solutions.
- Old wood with signs of infection is not used for construction. It is isolated from fresh material and subsequently burned.
- During the construction process, dried wood treated with antiseptic impregnations is used.
- The floors in the buildings are not laid close to the walls to ensure proper air draft under the floor. At the same time, coarse sand or a brick mixture is used as an underground cushion, avoiding ash, coke, humus masses and other materials with an alkaline environment.
- The newly constructed structure must be dry before painting with oil paints.
Conclusion
Mushroom house is a harmful wood destroyer that can destroy wooden structures. When the first signs of wood damage appear, it is necessary to immediately take measures that include the mechanical, antiseptic and chemical effects of exposure. Effectively fight with house mushroom prevention.
