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I've just inherited my dad's house and I've been looking over it's condition, and one of the walls was getting damp when it rains, I had a look in the loft and saw the following:

enter image description here

Is this dry rot? It's on the two diagonal timbers and the load bearing one that runs along the bottom that you might not be able to see in the photo. To the left it also looks like an old wasps nest and they have eaten away the insulation!

What is the best course of action? How urgently does this need doing?

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    It looks like dry rot to me try sticking a screwdriver in if it easily penetrates the wood more than 1/8" it probably is dry rot. You will want to first stop the leak and 2nd remove the wood that is bad. How urgent would be based on the amount of damage only a few inches can be repaired with special epoxy resins that penetrate the wood, legal but not something I would want to do to my house. stopping the leak would be urgent in my opinion to prevent mold growth in the walls.
    – Ed Beal
    Jul 7, 2016 at 13:47
  • Thanks I will have a jab at it with a screwdriver when I get home from work and post here
    – Adam
    Jul 7, 2016 at 13:58
  • @EdBeal I just tried it, screwdriver only went in about 5mm (0.2in)
    – Adam
    Jul 7, 2016 at 17:29
  • that doesn't sound bad it may be the beginnings of dry rot or a surface fungus. I would get some hydrogen peroxide and spray it down. you can use bleach but I think Hydrogen peroxide works better and no chlorine smell.
    – Ed Beal
    Jul 7, 2016 at 19:25

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