Given that dry rot is one type of rot - Serpula lacrymans - and all the others are white rots, our contributors explain why increasingly fungal rots are being classified as either brown or white.

After seeing the results of a 'worst-case' dry rot attack, we visit the home of one of our contributors – Dr Matt Green – to see the type of attack that householders are more likely to experience; and the treatment needed to resolve it.

Dr Brian Ridout explodes the myths that surround dry rot and describes how they came about. He also runs through the lifecycle of a typical fungus and along with Douglas Kent of SPAB, warns against the perils of unnecessary remedial treatment.