Read this regarding Styrene and VOC from resins – https://toxtown.nlm.nih.gov/text_version/chemicals.php?id=87

*****

This is one of the things which made contact with the wet rot annoyingly. The shroom had penetrated through the floorboards and sunk it’s dirt tentacles into what I think it Jarrah or maybe it’s sapele.

Anyway I was keeping this frame to fix up one day, and use as a full body mirror for when I had the space.

A friend gave me it half made or half modified. I’m not sure where it came from. It might have been part of a panel or furniture.

It definitely feels like it should frame something.

Anyway it needed a bit of work to sort it out when I got it but now it needs a lot more.

The bottom section has been damaged by the wet rot and is a little spongy with some stains.

I’m going to try clean up this section and treat the damaged area so it doesn’t get any worse, and also distress the rest of the frame just to make it look a bit more consistent.

There are fungal spoors all around us. We breath them in and out. It’s quite normal. They only become a problem when the environmental factors result in them actually growing. In the case of wet rot it is when the moisture content reaches a high enough level and air flow is restricted – which prevents areas drying out.

So I’m pretty confident that using wet rot hardener, sealing and varnishing the frame, and eventually moving it somewhere warmer and drier shouldn’t make the frame a nice feature and help preserve the timber.

I am painting the entire frame with wet rot hardener because that stuff does change the colour. It’s a very runny liquid so it will penetrate deeply into the timber. I am also working with the window open coz it stinks. If you are sensitive to resinous fumes I would suggest shaving your beard off and putting a vapour mask on.