Rothounds - Hounds trained to sniff out dry rot and fungus

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http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2001/07/15/stiptypty03003.html

July 15 2001

Dogs are surveyors' best friends, says Neil Mackwood

Hounds trained to sniff out dry rot

Rot-hunters: Geoffrey Hutton with one of his Rothounds

You may have heard of truffle-hounds, whose super sensitive snouts sniff out

valuable fungi from the forests of the Perigord, but have you encountered

Rothounds?

These are no relation to the fearsome Rottweiler, but English-bred dogs who

are trained to sniff out a rather less glamorous but infinitely more

destructive fungus: serpula lacrymans. This is the fungus that attacks the

cellulose of wood and reduces it to powder - the dreaded dry rot.

A firm of architects in Surrey has come up with an environmentally friendly

way of detecting dry rot by using " Rothounds " - two labradors and a Jack

cross. They are trained to sniff out the youthful fungus which is

still active and has not yet turned your woodwork to dust. Once qualified

they are worthy of the name Rothound, a name now trademarked by architect

Geoffrey Hutton, of Hutton & Rostron Environmental Investigations, whose

dogs go all over the country on their rot-hunting missions. " The fungus is a

living thing and this is akin to hunting, " he says.

They are frequent visitors to Windsor Castle, where 3m gallons of water

penetrated the fabric after the fire of 1992 and the development of dry rot

was a distinct possibility.

These " intelligent, biddable " dogs aid their human colleagues to find dry rot

without having to cut into walls. They bark when they find the fungus: " They

can pick up the scent maybe 13 ft above them, " says Hutton.

In the early stages the fungus gives off no smell detectable by humans but

in its advanced stage it has a smell redolent of a mustiness found in old

churches. A dog's olfactory organ is 1,000 times more sensitive than a

human's.

A traditional surveyor would have to rip up the fabric of the house to

detect the existence of rot but the Hutton & Rostron way is to keep damage

to a minimum and insert fibreoptic probes after the dogs have done their

detective work.

A three-dimensional representation of the building under examination is

mapped so that surveyors can get a complete picture of where the rot has

spread.

" It shows the pattern of the outbreak and is almost always linked to the

penetration of water, " says Geoffrey Hutton.

While his dogs have worked in some very grand houses, including Hampton

Court Palace, they also tackle more mundane properties. The typical cost for

a survey is £500.

Hutton & Rostron 01483 203 221 or e-mail ei@...

Neil Mackwood is editorial director of 08004homes.com