Replies

1. 
   FrankB89 | Feb 25, 2003 05:30pm | #1

   You might want to get a book called 'Mushrooms Demystified' and identify the particular fungi.

   After all, it might be an edible and you could very well have a food source right in your windowsill!

    

2. 
   Piffin | Feb 25, 2003 05:41pm | #2

   You may have a worse problem than just the mushroom.

   A mushroom grows from it's root core which has hundreds of tiny white root hairs spreading through the wood. It usually does not make much use of this sort of wood. You have a tremendous water penetration problem that needs to be corrected. I will bet my breakfast that you have other rot problems continuing down to the bottom plate of the wall. You need to do whatever is necessary to stop water from getting in and to figure out how extensive the damage is to framing.

   Or you can just kill the mushroom and close your eyes to the problem.

   Or - on a humourus note - apply to the govt for payment not to grow crops.

   .

   Excellence is its own reward!

1. 
   DavidBarDov | Feb 25, 2003 06:32pm | #3

   Sorry to dissappoint you, but there is no other rot in the wall, as the wall is concrete block covered with stucco.  My wife likes fresh air, bless her heart, and insists on keeping the window open "a crack".  So it has been getting splashed.  The humidity has been high, with temperatures around freezing, but definitely above.  And we have had almost 200 mm. of rain in the past week, with our normal annual rainfall being about 650-700, all of this falling from Nov-Apr. 

   I may have forgotten to mention that perhaps we are sufferring from some early form of sabotage from Iraq.  Maybe Saddam has some sort of fungus that only effects windows produced in the U.S.?  If you guess correctly where I live, I buy the beer...

1. 
   calvin | Feb 25, 2003 06:42pm | #4

   Well, you surely don't live in inch land.__________________________________________

   Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.

   http://www.quittintime.com/

2. 
   BillHartmann | Feb 25, 2003 07:05pm | #5

   Fugus needs decaying organic matter and high mositure levels to grow.

   Either the window frame is rotting, they have some non-treated bucks againstthe concrete that is rotting or leaves and similar material has gotten behind the liners.

1. 
   UncleDunc | Feb 25, 2003 07:30pm | #6

   What Bill said. Dry is the key. Chlorine bleach will kill the fungus. There are fungicidal paints available that may help once you get it cleaned out. But spores are everywhere, if you can't keep it dry, the mushrooms will be back, until they've eaten all of whatever it is they're eating down in that crack.

   I was going to say I guessed Israel from your name, but actually I remembered it from an earlier post.

3. 
   Piffin | Feb 25, 2003 07:33pm | #7

   200 mm is less than an inch, right? so you've had only about three inches in your report? That's not bad.

   There shouldn't be water splashing on the sill so somethng else is wrong with your design and installation. Good that you've got block construction. That way, you'll only need to replace the window and buck framing. You can take the slide guides out to treat things

   Guessing location -

   It's a place where they build with block abd Marvin windows are available. Where that much rain seems like a lot. Where they think in metric terms. Where Sadamic sabotage is ever-present on your mind. Does it get that cold in Kuwait?

   One of our allies on the Persian Gulf? So do they have beer there?

   I know - You are in Israel!.

   Excellence is its own reward!

1. 
   DavidBarDov | Feb 26, 2003 06:49pm | #21

   Piff - millimeters are little things.  They are smaller than sixteenths, and even at my age with bifocals I can read them on my tape measure.  There are a bit more than 25 of the little buggers to the inch.  200 of them comes out to about 8".  Two-by lumber is 45 mm. thick here, and widths are 95 (2X4), 145, and 195.  A 4X8 sheet of plywood is 122 cm X 244 cm.  Sheet rock here comes 122 wide, in lengths of 260, 280,  and 3 meters.  European rock, garbage made in France, is often 120 wide, just to spite the rest of the world.  Learn to love your centimeters, and they will love you back. 

   And in this neck of the woods, we drink Gold Star.  Theres all you can drink to anyone who will join us.

   Edited 2/26/2003 11:03:46 AM ET by bardov

4. 
   AaronRosenthal | Feb 25, 2003 07:45pm | #8

   My daugter tells me there has been huge rain in Jerusalem, too.

   Let's let Piffin think that 200 mm is not a lot.

   To get rid of mould here in rain country, I use commercial bleach followed by Kilz or Zinnser anti mildew paint.

   Hope it helps. Chamsin coming.At my age, my fingers & knees arrive at work an hour after I do.

   Aaron the HandymanVancouver, Canada

1. 
   Luka | Feb 25, 2003 09:06pm | #9

   >Let's let Piffin think that 200 mm is not a lot.

   On my ridge, here in the cascade mountains, it is not uncommon for me to get 7.88 inches in a week. All winter long. (I get more rain than the surrounding county/state, because of my location.)

   At least 3 times every winter I will get 7.88 inches of rain in a day or less.

   7.88 inches is NOT a lot of rain over several weeks.

   Relatively speaking of course...

   : )

   What one person thinks is a lot of rain, another thinks is a draught. The diversification is one of the beauties of this board. There was no reason to take even the slightest offense at Piffin's post. There is no reason for even the slightest donnish gibes in return.

   Quittin' Time

1. 
   UncleDunc | Feb 25, 2003 09:15pm | #10

   Oh come on, Luka. I don't see anything in Aaron's post that suggests he was offended. And the gibe isn't for thinking 200 mm isn't that much rain, although that's what it looks like. The gibe is for thinking that 200 mm is less than an inch, which I note that you also took the trouble to correct.

2. 
   Luka | Feb 25, 2003 09:25pm | #11

   hehehe

   Look again, Unc. Think Luka-ese.

   I saw an over sensitive reaction, (And it is there in two posts), and as balance, gave an over sensitive reaction.

   Ok, ok, so my response was a bit over-balanced, So sue me.

   ; )

   Quittin' Time

3. 
   Piffin | Feb 25, 2003 09:29pm | #12

   I didn't see the correction. All I know is that there are 2.49cm in an inch. Wouldn't that be 249mm? I put a question mark in my first statement.

   For us here to get three inches in one good storm is common.

   Regardless oif how much it is - homes should be designed and built so rain stays out. This one is letting it in. That is a flaw that needs correction before the problem gets worse.

   What kind of beer are we enjoying for getting this right? I want more than two inches of it.

   ;).

   Excellence is its own reward!

4. 
   UncleDunc | Feb 25, 2003 09:43pm | #14

   So I thought Piffin joking and Luka was serious. I guess I'm not the student of human nature I thought I was. :)

   2.49 cm/inch = 24.9 mm/inch. Actually it's 25.4, but I'll give you that.

5. 
   Luka | Feb 25, 2003 10:03pm | #15

   BTW: In my prvious post, I should have included some sort of standard warning label....

   **Warning, trying to think Luka-ese can be hazardous to your health.**

   ; )

   Quittin' Time

6. 
   UncleDunc | Feb 25, 2003 10:44pm | #16

   >> **Warning, trying to think Luka-ese can be hazardous to your health.**

   Nah, don't bother. It ruins the joke if you have to warn the slow kids in advance every time. If I can't keep up, I can't keep up. I should have figured it out when you repeated 7.88" like four times. I noticed it, but it didn't clue me in.

   And at least your just seem very earnest. Too many of mine look like abuse if you don't get the joke.

7. 
   Piffin | Feb 25, 2003 11:43pm | #17

   Luka and I are joined at the funnybone so sometimes one's meds effect the other's sense of humour!

   I guess I had my decimal point off - teach me to refer to memory in something this important. So, he got eight inches of rain in a week? That is a little damp but still, we get that in a week quite often.

   OKguys, let's quit throwiung wet blankets on each other and go for that beer this guy is offering.....

   Excellence is its own reward!

8. 
   AaronRosenthal | Feb 26, 2003 01:26am | #18

   Hmmmm.

   Can you get Molson Canadian down thar in Maine, Piffin?

   You're entitled to more than 8" (assuming wife & Dr. OK it.)

   I've read Luka's posts before. Does anyone besides newbies get offended? I just did a Commander Spock eyebrow, that's all.At my age, my fingers & knees arrive at work an hour after I do.

   Aaron the HandymanVancouver, Canada

9. 
   Piffin | Feb 26, 2003 03:02am | #20

   Thanks, I have seen that label, but never tipped one up..

   Excellence is its own reward!

10. 
    DavidBarDov | Feb 26, 2003 06:59pm | #23

    Leave old Piffin alone.  If Israel could average half that rain total per week, the middle east would sure look different.   Water is still a causus belli in these parts.  Keep your eyes on the Turkish/Iraqi border.  The problems between the two is not just a matter of the Kurds, but of water diversion.

2. 
   DavidBarDov | Feb 26, 2003 06:56pm | #22

   Not only did it rain, but snowed a bunch too.  No snow where I live (about 380 meters above sea level), but we could see it on the hills of the Galil all around us.  But the Kineret is filling rapidly, which will probably mean that the political powers that be will continue to ignore our continuing water problems.  Thanks for the tip.  I don't know that I can get these products that you reccommend.  My company imports material from Canada, and it might be interesting to get your ideas about various products.  Our main import is windows, from Loewen Windows in Manitoba, and we are the sole Israeli importers.  We also bring in hardwood flooring.  We are limited to bringing into the country only goods we buy in Canada, which is weird.  Between Canada and Israel there is a free trade agreement.  Likewise between Canada and the U.S., and between the U.S. and Israel.  But if I buy something in the U.S., ship it to Canada and put it into our container, I pay full import duty (meches).  Go know, but we've already paid through the nose.

1. 
   AaronRosenthal | Feb 26, 2003 07:58pm | #24

   I've been watching the Aishcam. Footprints around the Kotel!

   My daughter is coming for Pesach, so if you need Kilz or Zissner, send me a private email and I will give you her telephone number.

   Agreed about the water problem, and Fine Homebuilding has had a lot of articles re: underground storage of captured rainwater, but the political types will never insist it be done under every new building because the people would scream!

   I wish I had known about your imports last year. There is an apartment in Rannana with 30 year old wood windows .... At my age, my fingers & knees arrive at work an hour after I do.

   Aaron the HandymanVancouver, Canada

3. 
   fredsmart48 | Feb 25, 2003 09:36pm | #13

   New Zeland.

4. 
   r_ignacki | Feb 26, 2003 02:12am | #19

   does it smell like cocoa and taste like the burnt fat on a burnt steak? if so, it's probably one of those pychedelic pylocybin 'shrooms.
5. 
   leasinbad2018 | Jan 21, 2020 05:04am | #25

   I own 41' c-ketch yacht. My solution is use k1 kerosene in a spray bottle. It will penetrate well. Then use a turtle heat lamp to dry. During the hot summer use clear flex shot to seal cracks. Rite aide has it. I found out kerosene kills bed bugs which is another story. Best wear a dust mask as vapors are not healthy to breath.