Cost to Remove/Eradicate/Cure Dry Rot

This is a bit of a misnomer because lots of people want it plastered, in which case it becomes wet lining, of course. Either way, “dry lining” suggests a retrospective process undertaken to either hide / improve the current situation, i.e. to hide damp, exposed brickwork or new internal insulation.

If yours is one of the first two jobs, it would be very sensible to include the plastering, anyway. You really can never have too much insulation.

Dry lining is just fixing wood or metal “battens” to the wall and then fixing plasterboard to them. This is either filled or plastered, and then decorated. If you want insulation fitting, you can either fit thicker battens (let’s say 75mm as opposed to 25mm) with the same thickness of insulation slotted between them, or use insulation-backed plasterboard fixed to the 25mm thick battens.

That is relatively easy. The annoying bit is dealing with the reduction in room size and having to pay for new skirtings, architraving and possibly ceiling cornice, extending the door frames and window reveals and re-siting the electrical sockets, light switches and radiators.

To complete the job, you need a vapour barrier. This keeps warm, moisture-laden air inside your room (its moisture content isn’t tangible, it’s just a bit of science really). What you don’t want is for this moist air to pass through the plasterboard and condense on the insulation, battens or outside wall. This is called interstitial condensation (there’s some more science for you). Either foil-backed plasterboard or a big old sheet of polythene will do the trick. The jury is still out on which is best.

Ask your builder about interstitial condensation. Watch him stutter and start to whimper, he won’t have a clue what you’re on about, bless him!

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