Fungi Causing Above-Ground Wood Decay in Structures in California
Keywords:
Wood decay, structures, above-ground, basidiomycetesAbstract
Decay fungi were isolated and identified from decayed wood above-ground in structures in California. It was an opportunistic sample made available by a number of individuals dealing with decay problems throughout the state. An attempt was made to isolate as large a number of different decay fungi as possible from the limited sample material available. The total number of fungi involved in above-ground decay appeared to be small, and the list of fungi was almost identical with the list of fungi isolated from green lumber prior to use. This suggested the possibility that most of the fungi responsible for structure decay were present in the green lumber when the structure was built. Effects on distribution of decay by type of structure, location in structure, structure age, sub-structure construction and type of siding are reported, along with the frequency of structural defects and moisture problems promoting decay. Structures with slab-on-grade and stucco siding appeared to be the most vulnerable to decay. These data suggest an explanation for why California, with a low calculated Scheffer Climate Index, has decay problems of far greater severity than predicted by the Index.References
Cartwright. K. St. G., and W. P. K. Findlay. 1958. Decay of timber and its prevention. Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, UK. 332 pp.nCowling, E. B. 1957. A partial list of fungi associated with decay of wood products in the Unitede States. Plant Disease Reporter 41(10):894-896.nDeGroot, R. C. 1976. Wood decay ecosystem in residential construction. Pages 334-352 in Trees and Forests for Human Settlements. Proc., P1.05-00 Symposium of the XVIth IUFRO World Congress (Vancouver, B.C., 11-12 June 1976 and Oslo, Norway, 22 June 1976). Center for Urban Forestry Studies, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.nDietz, M. G. 1994. Above-ground wood decay in structures in California. Ph.D. dissertation. University of California at Berkeley, CA. 112 pp.nDuncan, C. G., and F. F. Lombard. 1965. Fungi associated with principal decays in wood products in the United States. USDA Forest Serv., Forest Prod. Lab. Report No. WO-4, Madison. WI.nEslyn, W. E. 1970. Utility pole decay. Part II: Basidiomyeetes associated with decay in poles. Wood Sci. Technol. 4(1970):97-103.nEuropean Testing Standards. 1982. Wood preservatives. Determination of the toxic values against wood destroying basidiomyeetes cultured on an agar medium. Standard EN-113 (BS6009). British Standards Institute. London. UK.nGilbertson, R. L. and K. S. Neuhauser. 1981. Woodrotting fungi in structural timbers at the NTS. Sandia National Laboratory. SAND 81-1538. Unlimited release. 19 pp.nGraham, R. D., and M. E. Corden. 1980. Conserving energy by safe and environmentally acceptable parcices in maintaining and procuring transmission poles for long service. A cooperative pole research program, Orgeon State University, Corvallis, OR. Annual Report.nGraham, R. D., and M. E. Corden. 1982. Conserving energy by safe and environmentally acceptable practices in maintaining and procuring transmission poles for long service. A cooperative pole reserch program. Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR. Second Annual Report. June 1982.nLindgren, R. M. 1955. Decay in exterior millwork. Forest Prod. J. 5(3): 163-164.nMcWilliams, B., and G. Goldman. 1994. The forest products industries in California: Their impact on the state economy. Divison of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of California. 30 pp.nMorrell, J. J., M. E. Corden, R. D. Graham, B. R. Kropp, P. Przybylowicz, S. M. Smith, and C. M. Sextant. 1987. Basidiomycete coionization of air-seasoned. Dauglas fir poles. Pages 284-296 in Proc., 83rd Annual Meeting of the American Wood-Proservers' Association. Toronto, Canada.nMorrell, J. J., M. A. Newbili. C. M. Sexton, and A. R. Zahora. 1988. Fungal colonization of preservative traeted Douglas-fir poles during storage. Forest Prod. J. 38(1):21-22.nMorrell, J. J., C. M. Frettag, S. Smith, M. E. Corden, and R. D. Graham. 1997. Pretreatment decay in Douglas-fir poles: Basidiomycete colonization after 3 or 6 months of air-seasoning. Forest Prod. J. (in press).nNobles, M. K. 1948. Studies in forest pathology, VI. Identifiction of cultures of wood-rotting fungi, Can. J. Res. C 26:281-431.nNobles, M. K. 1965. Identification of cultures of wood-inhabiting Hymenomycetes. Can. J. Bot. 43:1097-1139.nPrzybylowicz, P. R., B. R. Kropp, M. E. Corden, and R. D. Graham. 1987. Colonization of Douglas-fir poles by decay fungi during air-seasoning. Forest Prod. J. 37(4):17-23.nScheffer, T. C. 1971. A climate index for estimating potential for decay in wood structures above ground. Forest Prod. J. 21(10): 25-31.nStalepers, J. A. 1978. Identification of wood-inhabiting Aphyllophorales in pure culture. Studies in Mycology. No. 16: Centraalbureau Voor Schimmeleulturers. Baarn. 248 pp.nVerrall, A. F. 1952. Recent investigations on the avoidance of decay in exterior woodwork of buildings. J. Forest Prod. Res. Soc. 2(1):32-33.nVerrall, A. F. 1956. No-pressure preservative treatments for exterior woodwork of buildings. Forest Prod. J. 6(11): 17A-18A.nVerrall, A. F. 1957. How to prevent fungus damage to wood stuctures. Forest Prod. J. 7(1):15A-17A.nViitanen, H., and A. C. Ritschkoff. 1991. Brown rot decay in wooden constructions. Effect of temperture, humidity, and moisture. Rapport—Institutionén för Virkeslära. Sveroges Lantbruksuniversitet. No. 222, 57 pp.nWilcox, W. W. 1986. Wood: Decay during use. Pages 5412-5416 in M. B. Bever, ed. Encyclopedia of Materials Science and Engineering. Pergamon Press. New York, NY.nWilcox, W. W., and A. F. Rosenberg. 1982. Architectural and constrcution deficienceis contributing to decay of wood in buildings, or how not to build with wood and why. Pages 246-255 in R. W. Meyer and R. M. Kellogg, eds. Structural uses of wood in adverse environments. Van Nostrand Reinhold Co.nZabel, R. A., and J. J. Morrell. 1992. Wood microbilogy. Academic Press. Inc., San Diego, CA. 476 pp.nZabel, R. A., F. F. Lombard, and A. M. Kenderes. 1980. Fungl associated with decay in treated Douglas-fir transmission poles in the northeastern United States. Forest Prod. J. 30(4): 51-56.n
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
The copyright of an article published in Wood and Fiber Science is transferred to the Society of Wood Science and Technology (for U. S. Government employees: to the extent transferable), effective if and when the article is accepted for publication. This transfer grants the Society of Wood Science and Technology permission to republish all or any part of the article in any form, e.g., reprints for sale, microfiche, proceedings, etc. However, the authors reserve the following as set forth in the Copyright Law:
1. All proprietary rights other than copyright, such as patent rights.
2. The right to grant or refuse permission to third parties to republish all or part of the article or translations thereof. In the case of whole articles, such third parties must obtain Society of Wood Science and Technology written permission as well. However, the Society may grant rights with respect to Journal issues as a whole.
3. The right to use all or part of this article in future works of their own, such as lectures, press releases, reviews, text books, or reprint books.
