Thus far my sense of sight; while dry rot and
wet rot and all the silent rots that rot in neglected roof and cellar - rot of rat and mouse and bug and coaching-stables near at hand besides - addressed themselves faintly to my sense of smell, and moaned, "Try Barnard's Mixture."
Shortly after they'd unpacked, they discovered
wet rot in the basement and began their renovations by digging up their enclosed courtyard to find where the problem lied.
Throughout the buildings, signs of
wet rot were also found in the window linings, windows, lintels, joists and floorings, which posed a threat to the structure of the properties.
It added: "The existing buildings are in very poor condition, suffering from a combination of structural deficiencies, fire damage, water ingress, dry rot,
wet rot and general neglect.
"Unable to withstand winds of up to 59mph, they were simply blown away." She added: "An inquest jury concluded the panel was blown away because of a lack of maintenance resulting from
wet rot and corroded metal fixings."
The
wet rot that allowed the water tank cover to be blown away by Storm Doris could have been avoided by regular painting which had not happened for almost 20 years.
And an independent inspection concluded the pads were full of "
wet rot" and found "any reasonably competent person responsible for the maintenance of buildings would have been aware" of their condition.
The discovery of
wet rot in the timbers behind a large area of historic plasterwork, including an Art Deco fountain feature, has made it impossible to salvage them and so they will have to be replaced.
Leaves and debris gathered in the gullies of the intricate roof structure and dry and
wet rot spread through the building.
The site at 30 High Street is a four-storey property that had been blighted by dry rot,
wet rot, asbestos, a leaking roof and a flooded basement.
Wet rot sounds scary, but it's usually easy to remedy with the right products - use Ronseal
Wet Rot Wood Hardener (PS9.99 for 500ml, Screwfix) to harden the soft, rotten wood, and then Ronseal High Performance Wood Filler (PS11.39 for 550g, Screwfix), which is brilliant for big repairs and sets really fast.