Diagnostics Fungi - parasites Hauts-de-France

  Why choose an independent firm:

- for professional and impartial pest detection, completely independent of companies specializing in curative treatment.

- for an impartial opinion free of any interest, before planning renovation or treatment work.

Indeed to avoid being trapped by an unscrupulous practice which will probably become widespread soon. This is the attack of dry rot; fungus that likes to destroy wood. But, if at the outset the specialized craftsman, very open, announces, firsthand, the dry rot, do not hesitate to contact our office. The result can surprise you pleasantly and thus avoid you considerable costs which one announces to you nevertheless refundable by your insurance. The analysis is done immediately, advice is given to you.

As this is an independent firm, there is therefore no conflict of interest.

You will thus have the assurance of undertaking the work strictly necessary for possible attacks by pests as identified by our technician.

We provide mycological expertise and diagnostics in the North 59-62 and these expertise can be doubly confirmed by a laboratory analysis. These expertises are admissible in court.

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

Very often, I am asked the question of the admissibility of a non-contradictory expertise (expertise carried out without the presence of all the parties) before a Tribunal.

Indeed, some ill-informed jurists (and even certain jurisdictions, sometimes ...) maintain that only a contradictory expertise ordered by a judge would be admissible before the courts ....

This is not the case, because the courts consider more and more often that an amicable (or partial, or even unilateral) expertise is admissible evidence, the defendant being responsible for providing proof to the contrary by a possible against expertise or the request for an order appointing a judicial expert for a contradictory expertise.

This is also a position that the Court of Cassation has buried twice:
Henceforth, all my expert reports include the following mention:

"The present unilateral expertise thus contributes to the exercise of the right to proof of your damages. The Court of Cassation has recognized the admissibility of the unilateral expertise as evidence.
(Cassation: Civil Chamber - Judgment n ° 412 of April 5, 2012 - Mixed Chamber - Judgment n ° 271 of September 28, 2012) "

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

Rotting Mushrooms

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

Several fungi are capable of devastating your frames, stairs, floors or joists in just a few months. These fungi, called "lignivorous", belong to many species present in the atmosphere in the form of spores. It is enough that all the conditions are met, during a more or less long space of time, so that these organisms take shape and begin their destruction of timber. The most commonly encountered bear the common names of Merule, Coniophore, Lenzite or Polypore.
The ultimate stage in wood degradation by fungi is rotting. Three main types of rots are to be considered depending on the element of the wood used: cubic or brown rot, fibrous or white rot and soft rot.

The Merule
The Caves Coniophore
Lenzite for Beams
The Cellar Polypore
Soft rot

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

The Merule

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

La Merule is a cubic rot fungus. Its name, derived from the Greek "merizo" (to share, to fragment), recalls the fragmentation of the wood that it causes. Some have used the name in the masculine, gender of the Latin name given to it in the last century, but the use of the feminine has been applied to it for a long time and by renowned mycologists.

The vernacular names encountered in France are "dry rot", "weeping dry rot" because of the colored tears that its mycelium exudes, or even "house rot".
In fact, the name "Merule" is made up of several species of fungi. We will present to you, here, the one that concerns us the most, because the most frequently encountered in our latitudes and also the most devastating: it is Serpula lacrymans.

This wood-eating fungus, very cosmopolitan, attacks only timber, especially conifers but often also hardwoods.

Serpula lacrymans is found in temperate zones throughout the northern hemisphere. Its appearance is in fact closely linked to the humidification of wood. In addition, if the atmosphere is confined, its growth will be favored.

The development of dry rot can be broken down into 2 phases:

• Vegetative formation: the germination of the spore produces a white wadding mass which can reach 5 to 50 mm in thickness and which can take, under diffused light, a canary yellow tint. This is the primary mycelium. By fusion of mycelium resulting from different spores, a white mycelium is formed which is very abundant because of vigorous growth, the secondary mycelium.
Depending on the favorable environmental conditions and depending on the nutritive nature of the substrate, this mycelium evolves in format or white wadded masses sometimes very voluminous up to several cubic meters or more or less thick cushions, generally 2 to 4 cm thick. thickness, passing to yellow, green, pink or purplish and acquiring with age a more tenacious surface of ocher or gray tint.

Fresh mycelium generally has a pleasant smell of edible mushroom, but has a bitter flavor and is poisonous.

It is in the mycelium that increasingly thick, ramified, cylindrical or flattened mycelial cords are formed, improperly called "rhizomorphs".

• The fruiting phase: Serpula lacrymans is a sexual fungus. From the reproduction of two individuals a new mycelium will be born which will produce one or more fruiting bodies or carpophores. Of various shapes, more or less spread out, being able to extend from a few centimeters to almost 2 meters and of rusty brown to yellowish colors towards the edge, the carpophore are plated on the wood. The fertile surface is wrinkled, dimpled and composed of microscopic spores present in the billions used to reproduce the species by dissemination.

Examples of the 2nd phase of the Merule "Fruiting"

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

Development conditions:
• Wood humidity: dry rot develops in a humidity between 22 and 35%. At 35% humidity its development is very rapid. Beyond 40%, it ceases to develop.
• Temperature: dry rot develops between 7 and 20 ° C. Its development is optimal between 20 and 26 ° C, especially in a confined atmosphere. However, it is not resistant to higher temperatures.
Great darkness is required for the vegetative phase.
The fruiting phase requires a minimum of light to flourish.
Note the particular role of the cords used to transport water and can pass through walls and masonry for several meters.
La Mérule actually accounts for around 70% of damage cases inside buildings in Northern Europe.

By digesting the cellulose of the wood, the fungus releases water which increases the humidity of the wood and accelerates the attack. The hydrolysis of the cellulose causes a brown coloration of the wood as well as a cleavage along the three rectangular planes. The consistency of the wood becomes dry and brittle. This is called "cubic rot".

Examples of Merula Damage

The Caves Coniophore

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

The Caves Coniophore is also a cubic rot fungus. The scientific name is Coniophora puteana.
This species attacks very humid woods with a minimum water content of 30%, a content higher than that admitted by Serpula lacrymans.
It grows easily in the dark and especially in the cellars of homes or the holds of boats.

The development of Coniophore des Caves takes place in 2 phases:
• Vegetative formation: the mycelium is yellow-white, cottony, but becomes more sparse in a dry environment. As it ages, the fungus darkens and becomes rather brown with age. it produces very fine cords of brown then blackish color. The consistency of the cellar coniophore is flexible.

Examples of "Vegetative Formation" of the coniophore of cellars

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

Appearance of brown cords

• Fruiting bodies: fruiting bodies are rarer in the building than outside, due to the instability of the high humidity conditions necessary for their development. They appear in the form of continuous membranous crusts, following the surface of the substrate, of irregular outline, which can measure from 1 to 30 cm, with the surface ocher-brown to purplish-brown and white to yellow-brown periphery.

Development conditions:
• Wood humidity: the coniophore develops in a minimum humidity of 30 to 40%. Its development is optimum if the humidity is between 50 and 60%.
• Temperature: The optimum temperature for its development is 24 ° C and should not exceed 35 °.

The cords develop on masonry, but do not intervene in the transfer of water.
In the botanical sense, the cellar coniophore is very close to dry rot. It can be confused with the latter. But given its humidity requirements, it is much less common.
It also attacks softwoods as well as hardwoods.

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

Lenzite for Beams

Beam Lenzite whose scientific names are Lenzites separia (Wulf.) Fr. or Gloeophyllum sepiarium (Wulf.). Karst are part of the "Brown cubic rots".

This wood-eating fungus, which is always found in the open air, is capable of easily withstanding alternations of humidity and drought. This fungus degrades barriers, posts, bridge piers and exterior glulam.

The development of lenzite in beams can be broken down into 2 phases:
• Vegetative formation (mycelium): The fungus during this phase is yellow or brownish in color. It appears in cottony masses.
• Fruiting: In this last phase, the lenzite of the beams is yellow or orange when fresh. Small consoles can be seen with a fluffy red upper face. On the underside the blades are yellow. These can be contiguous and form regular tubes.

Development conditions:
The lenzite of the beams is very tenacious. It is resistant to humidity below 20% in dry wood and can even develop at very high humidity levels (above 50%!).

It is the most common lignivorous fungus in France. It is common to find it on softwoods and also on lumber outdoors.

This fungus particularly likes all resinous species (sapwood and heartwood) which decompose when attacked. Lenzite in beams rarely attacks hardwoods, but hardwoods are not excluded.

At the beginning of the attack the wood is yellowish. We also see a cleavage according to the annual rings of the wood. The cutting is according to the three rectangular planes. Like dry rot, the lenzite of the beams is part of "cubic rots".

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

The Cellar Polypore

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

The Caves Polypore whose scientific names are Donkioporia expansa Desm. or Phellinus megaloporus (Pers.) Hein are part of "White fibrous rots".

This wood-eating fungus is mainly found in homes. It is mainly found on very damp hardwoods, especially oak.

The development of the cellar polypore can be broken down into 2 phases:
• Vegetative formation: It appears as a mass of thick felted white mycellium in the form of pads which turn yellowish with age. It then takes on a tough and hard consistency. Unlike dry rot, for example, this fungus does not form cords.
• Fruiting bodies: Fruiting bodies develop over vegetative forms. They are irregular, brown nipples formed of long, thin tubes and sometimes arranged in stratified layers.

Development conditions:
Its development requires very high humidity levels, greater than 40%.
Also it requires a relatively high temperature, above 25 ° C. Its development is fastest when the temperature is around 35 ° C.
This fungus only grows in dark, poorly ventilated places where wood is covered.
It grows slowly as a rule.

In France, cellar polypore represents 30% of the cases of deterioration observed in buildings. Hardwood frames are the most affected.

Hardwoods (oak, chestnut) are the woods most often attacked. Heartwood decomposes faster than sapwood.
It is quite rare for this fungus to attack coniferous woods.

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

In addition to this, you need to know more about it.

Soft rot

The most common representative of Soft Rot is Chaetomium globosum Kunz.

The fungi causing "soft rot" are particularly prevalent in wood in contact with the ground, the slats of industrial refrigerants and possibly exterior joinery subjected to abnormally high humidity levels causing a not insignificant loss of mechanical properties.

The attacked wood appears soft and has a spongy appearance. Soft rot is blackish in color. We also see a regular cutting of the wood in 2 perpendicular directions after drying.

Development conditions:
This fungus develops for very high wood humidity (greater than 50%).
Optimal development temperatures are between 25 and 30 ° C. Soft rot is resistant to high temperatures (50 ° C).
The presence of mineral salts accelerates the degradation of wood in contact with the ground or on cooling towers.

The woods attacked by soft rot are hardwoods (oak sapwood, beech) which are degraded in depth. But it also attacks softwoods, the degradation of which is less intense and more superficial.

Soft rot therefore attacks under very specific conditions.