The Rot & Woodworm Co. identifies and treats timber decay in property across Scotland's Central Belt. We cover Glasgow, Renfrewshire, Lanarkshire, Ayrshire, Dunbartonshire and Stirling in the west, and Edinburgh, the Lothians, Fife and the Borders in the east.

Dry rot, wet rot and woodworm are the three problems we deal with, and the single most useful thing we do is tell them apart. To an untrained eye they look alike. They are caused by different things, they behave differently, and the treatment appropriate to one is wasted money on another. A great deal of unnecessary work gets carried out in Scottish homes every year because nobody established what the problem actually was first.

So every job begins with a survey. We inspect floors, joists, skirtings, roof timbers and sub-floor voids, take moisture readings, and work out what is genuinely growing or boring in the wood. Just as importantly, we find the water. Fungal decay cannot survive without a moisture source, and that source is usually something mundane: a leaking gutter, a bridged damp proof course, a blocked air brick, failed flashing, or a slow plumbing leak under a floor. Treat the decay and ignore the water and the problem returns, generally within a few years.

With woodworm, the first question is whether the infestation is even active. Many are long dead, the beetles having emerged years or decades ago, and those need no treatment whatsoever. Establishing that saves people a considerable amount of money and worry.

Our findings go to you in writing. What it is, how far it has spread, what is causing it, and what treatment is genuinely required. You make the decision from there, with the facts in front of you rather than a quote and a scare story.

This work is common in Scotland for structural reasons. Pre-1919 tenement stock, suspended timber ground floors, solid walls without cavities, and a climate that delivers a great deal of rain combine to keep timber damp. In tenements in particular, the source of the water is frequently not in the flat reporting the problem, which makes a proper survey and a conversation with neighbours or the factor part of the job.

We work with homeowners, landlords, letting agents and property factors, including on properties going through a sale where a Home Report has flagged rot or infestation.