There's a bit to it... I used to use my Swiss army knife for testing damage. I've a few instances where the knife was embedded full length of the blade. A moisture meter may be helpful and I generally used small ziplock bags for samples. You have to be careful with brown rot (aka dryrot). Substantial strength may be lost with little loss in weight. Attached file may be helpful.

https://res.cloudinary.com/engineering-com/image/upload/v1706542488/tips/Brown_Rot_22-07-20_p5fvyl.pdf

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So strange to see the singularity approaching while the entire planet is rapidly turning into a hellscape. -John Coates

-Dik

Of course there's way more to it than that. And are you looking exclusively at structural strength, or is the fungal/rot/water intrusion also of concern?

I think American Wood Council has a recorded seminar on in-situ wood and decay/deterioration.

Furthermore, if the wood is "fine" who's to say the original structural design itself actually works?

Why is the water damage "extensive"? Flood? Hurricane? Bad window flashing? Rising damp?

often bad detailing or construction.

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So strange to see the singularity approaching while the entire planet is rapidly turning into a hellscape. -John Coates

-Dik

I don't mess around with water damage. Obviously I see a lot in my area, but 90% of the time it falls into one of these two categories: 1. "damp" framing, common in crawlspaces or decks, 2. rotten/ deteriorated members that have some section loss and need to be replaced/ sistered. I always have my awl or knife and see how soft or weak the wood is. If you know wood is PT vs untreated that also helps make a decision about what is needed.

Thanks, everyone. I'll look through dik's document and search for the webinar lexpatrie mentioned. I also found these which should be helpful: Link #1, Link #2, Link #3.

A BPS for your links...

thanks

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So strange to see the singularity approaching while the entire planet is rapidly turning into a hellscape. -John Coates

-Dik

Deker - In an oceanfront environment steel fasteners often fail before the wood. Stainless steel is good, but even hot dip galvanized does not last too many years. When making your inspection "dig" in the wood around fasteners to try to determine fastener condition.

I noticed that I did not include epoxy injection as a means of remedy. My nephew's boat had an area of brown rot and I provided him with a repair using epoxy injection. This is often used for marine applications. Best to avoid rot conditions, if not use PT lumber (usually PWF level). The paper I prepared was for clients that had 'rot' problems and it (and earlier) versions were attached to my report as part of an appendix.

Further to SRE's comment... PWF treatments generally are extremely corrosive to connections.

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So strange to see the singularity approaching while the entire planet is rapidly turning into a hellscape. -John Coates

-Dik

Great advice, SRE. Thank you.

Keep us posted... it's good to know what's observed...

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So strange to see the singularity approaching while the entire planet is rapidly turning into a hellscape. -John Coates

-Dik

@jerseyshore How do you use a knife to determine the amount of water damage? What I'm guessing is that you make an incision to see if it's soft or not, and do it on a non-damaged piece of wood to see if it's the same.

just by the 'punkiness' of the remaining wood fibre. If you can insert a knife blade full depth... it indicates the depth of deterioration is at least that depth. 'Dryrot' being one of the measures of deterioration.

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So strange to see the singularity approaching while the entire planet is rapidly turning into a hellscape. -John Coates

-Dik

Exactly, a small knife or awl is perfect for poking wood and seeing how soft or how far it can be inserted.

even with rot, the blade parallel to the grain.

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So strange to see the singularity approaching while the entire planet is rapidly turning into a hellscape. -John Coates

-Dik

Got it, thanks for the tips!