Wood Rot

[James E. Braun, CMI]

Does anybody have any material that states decay ratios of wood do to rot fungus. I am trying to figure out how long does it take for a leaking toilet to rot through a 3/4" wood plank floor. I would think it would take years but I do not have anything in writing to prove it.

[James F. McKee]

James I would think this would be greatly determined by the size and rate of leakage...jmho...jim

[James H. Bushart]

...also depends on who is sitting on it.

[James F. McKee]

Originally Posted by jbushart

...also depends on who is sitting on it.

would that be the squish factor Jim ???

[James E. Braun, CMI]

Lets say a very large continous leak. The fastest a 3/4" floor can rot out. Wood rot starts about 20 percent moisture. So if a 3/4" wood plank floor stays at a moisture rate above 20 percent continously, how long would it take to rot out?

[James E. Braun, CMI]

Lets say Jim's fat butt is sitting on it .

[James H. Bushart]

Originally Posted by jbraun

Lets say Jim's fat butt is sitting on it .

In that case....give it about an hour before you have to go into the basement to find me.

[jkogel]

There are so many variables. Wood species, rot species, temperature, wetted area, flushes per day etc.
Tight grain/wide grain, edge grain/face grain, sap wood/heart wood, fast rot/slow rot

[Kenton H. Shepard, CMI]

John's right, too many variables. Too bad too, because it'd be nice to set up a data base of this kind of information.

[jkogel]

BTW, wood that is too wet, like completely submerged will not rot. This article has some growth rates on pg 3 for 6 different rots in Southern yellow pine. Relative to what, though???

http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/pd...hastrup001.pdf

If that's too boring, try a search for predatory mushrooms, now that's ..... interesting.

http://www.uoguelph.ca/~gbarron/MISC2003/feb03.htm

John Kogel
www.allsafehome.ca

[Kenton H. Shepard, CMI]

Originally Posted by jkogel

BTW, wood that is too wet, like completely submerged will not rot. This article has some growth rates on pg 3 for 6 different rots in Southern yellow pine. Relative to what, though???

http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/pd...hastrup001.pdf

If that's too boring, try a search for predatory mushrooms, now that's ..... interesting.

John Kogel
www.allsafehome.ca

Right again. Log storage yards prevent logs from rotting by keeping them saturated with water. Mold fungi must have oxygen to be active and water saturation doesn't allow enough oxygen for decay to take place.

[Carl Brown]

There is a lake somewhere that they are cutting standing submerged old growth trees out of underwater logging. I saw it on tv a while back.

[George A. H. Luck]

The television show you are thinking of is "Dirty Jobs" with Mike Roe. They were harvesting logs from Georgian Bay on Lake Huron. These logs had become water logged while loggers moved them to the mill and sank in the cold water of the lake. Apparently they are like new or better (?).

[Carl Brown]

Thanks George!

[jkogel]

Originally Posted by cbrown1

There is a lake somewhere that they are cutting standing submerged old growth trees out of underwater logging. I saw it on tv a while back.

Salvage of logs which sank before the sawmill guys got to them has been done in a couple of lakes around here. Some of the wood wasn't prime to begin with but it's old growth, still worth doing. I remember a guy about 25 yrs ago going out with a homemade grapple affair on a pontoon raft, don't know how he made out.
Actual underwater logging was done I think on Harrison Lake, British Columbia and probably other places too. This is where they had dammed the river and flooded a valley full of standing timber. They use a robotic submarine harvester to attach a float to the snag, and then snip it off the stump.

John Kogel
www.allsafehome.ca