Welcome to The Beam Guy's Galleries
Here you'll find the essential images to quickly identify indications of dry rot in roof beams, why many common wood repair techniques are ineffective on exterior roof beams. If you landed on this page first, I highly recommend you begin with the article Roof Beams or visit it immediately after this page.
What Is Roof Beam Dry Rot? Why Does It Happen?
The nature and appearance of dry rot in roof beams can be understood in context.
Dry rot is caused by fungi. In the forest, these fungi have the job of decomposing dead and dying trees to make food and room for the next generations. It's part of mother nature's recycling plan.
But, for homeowners, nature's efficiency becomes a threat to the structural integrity of their roof beams. The worst of these culminate in structural failure.
While an ounce of prevention is still worth a pound of cure, early detection of roof beam dry rot is the next best tool in the homeowner's toolbox.
Below is a gallery featuring a variety of dry rot issues in roof beams. Each photo has a description to help you identify similar issues in your beams. Click the top photo to expand and read the explanation. (On some iPads, you'll need to use a slow double tap.) Use the arrows within the expansion to read flip-book style. (On mobile devices, tap and swipe left.)
What Types of Dry Rot Repair Are There? What Should I Avoid?
Carpenters often refer to the "bones" of a house when speaking of studs, posts, beams, and the like. Remodelers and realtors speak of a home as having "good bones" as well. The analogy is a good one; just as your bones are the structural framework of your body, structural roof beams are the bones that hold up the entirety of your roof. And if you've ever injured a bone, you also know that a cosmetic "fix" is an absurd notion. This reality also applies to roof beams; any restorative work to these exposed structural members must be able to endure all of the physical loads and weather extremes they're sure to be subject to.
Below is a photo gallery of ineffective roof beam dry rot repairs that homeowners over the years have asked me to inspect. Each photo has a description to explain the attempted repair and its subsequent failure. Click the top photo to expand and read the explanation. (On some iPads, you'll need to use a slow double tap.) Use the arrows within the expansion to read flip-book style. (On mobile devices, tap and swipe left.)
The following one-minute videos reveal the consequences of a few types of cosmetic-only repairs. These are failing repairs I was brought in to correct.
(*Note: I have no control over the "more videos" selections YouTube adds on pause or stop.)
