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To determine if wood has been damaged by wood-decay fungi, insert the sharp point of a probe or sturdy knife and lift up. If the wood buckles and breaks at the point where the probe is inserted, it indicates fungal damage. If the wood splinters and breaks away at a distance from the probe, it is sound, even though it still might be wet.
Although wood is most prone to attack by wood-decay fungi when the moisture content is 20 percent or higher, decay can still occur at levels as low as 13 percent. Within structures, moisture-damaged wood is attractive to wood-destroying insects and organisms looking to establish a parent colony or satellite colony indoors. For carpenter ants, for example, the parent colony needs the moist wood to survive, but satellite colonies can locate in drier areas such as voids and sound, dry wood.
Stoy Hedges, BCE, is manager of Technical Services at Terminix.
