It is important to consider as a special type of wood destroying fungus. It has peculiar features which makes it the most serious type of timber decay in buildings. It can cause decay to timbers at a low moisture content. It has the ability to grow through damp masonry, brickwork and behind wall plaster and timber suspended floors. An outbreak of dry rot is brown in colour and splits into large cubes. Mycelium strands spread from the infected timber into damp masonry. When conditions are suitable the fungus forms a fruiting body which is shaped like a flat plate.