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Some old people are living with elderly relatives or elderly friends If one of
these falls ill, the other is not capable of looking after the sick person and great
hardship and distress can be caused for both if admission to a suitable hospital cannot
be obtained.
I must place on record the invaluable help which various services and organisations
are giving to old people in their homes. Particularly, praise is due to the L.C.C. Home
Help Service and the District Nursing Association who shoulder the brunt of the less
pleasant problems which occur in this type of case The Laundry and Home Bathing
Services of the Health Department also play a vital part Without all these services
the problem of dealing with the old people would be insoluble.
Timber - Damage by pests and fungi
Special attention has been directed during the year to the very serious problem of
timber damage by pests and fungi. A high proportion of the housing defects found
consist of defective timberwork. Most of this trouble is due to either infestation and
damage by woodworm or fungal invasion of the timber leading to dry or wet rot.
Both fungal and insect attack on timber are widespread in this country and are on
the increase. They cause great economic loss, estimated at many millions of pounds per
year. Both conditions are preventable, yet most property owners make no effort to
safeguard their premises against these most expensive pests
The lack of knowledge of this problem on the part of householders and landlords
does not help If both were aware of the possibility and simple causation of these
conditions, serious trouble need never arise, as they would be detected and treated at an
early stage. Extensive and expensive renewal of structural timbers which inevitably
follows neglect of the early signs would thereby be avoided.
Both these conditions are transmissible to sound timbers in other properties The
adult beetles causing woodworm can fly and spread from house to house. The fungus of
the wood rots spreads by direct invasion even through brick walls, or can be carried by
airborne spores to other properties
Woodworm is caused by a small beetle which can fly freely and lays its minute eggs
in cracks in sound timber The eggs hatch in time into tiny grubs which burrow into the
substance of the wood where they feed on the wood and in so doing form burrows which
weaken the timber. After a period of feeding and burrowing which may continue for years
the grub changes to an adult beetle and bores its way out, making the characteristic hole
in the surface of the timber to enable it to escape
The problem is made more serious by the fact that the first evidence that infestation
has occurred is only obtained by the appearance of these flight holes in the wood
surface, by which time the grub has done its damage which is invisible and the adult
beetle has escaped to mate and infect other property or furniture Adequate local
treatment at this stage can limit the damage but cannot prevent further re infestation.
For this purpose thorough and skilled treatment of all the woodwork is necessary and this
is expensive and often inconvenient.
Dry rot is a fungal infection of wood This condition can only develop in timber
which contains more than 20% of moisture furniture and joinery timber in this Country
normally contains about 12%. The minute airborne spores of the fungus are present
everywhere and any suitably damp timber is soon infected The spore germinates and the
fungus spreads by a threadlike mycelium which extends throughout the timber, destroying
its structure by chemical breakdown of the wood The mycelium can penetrate plaster and
brickwork and if untreated will extend into adjoining properties Large sporing bodies
may be formed and these contain millions of minute spores each capable of spreading the
condition further afield.
Here again prevention is better than cure. If only tenants and owners were alive
to the dangers of dampness from minor structural defects and the widespread damage
which neglect of these in the early stages may ultimately lead to. much expense and
inconvenience could be avoided.