A survey tasked with identifying evidence of woodworm and fungal decay in a Brookeborough home which has been damaged by water ingress has determined a link between it and work carried out on a public pavement outside.

Last week a Fermanagh grandmother spoke of her immense upset after her living room floor rotted and fell apart in February.

Coral Hunter’s home currently looks like a building site, but the issue started over ten years ago.

“I am at the end of my tether, I really am,” she told The Impartial Reporter.

She claims the problem began after work was carried out on behalf of the Department for Regional Development, as it was known then, to replace a public footpath outside her home on main street. The Department has disputed this allegation.

A survey carried out by an expert surveyor who specialises in condensation control, timber treatment and damp proofing was completed in 2017.

The report, which has been seen by this newspaper, identified rising damp in the front reception room, extensive outbreak of dry rot fungus called sepula lacrymans, fungus that had attacked new timber as well as original timber and evidence of an attack to the skirtings in the front reception room.

In summing up, the report stated: “While we are unable to tell exactly when and why the above problems first emerged and when the fungus has attacked the above areas, we are at least able to say that by raising the exterior ground level in 2008, this increased the risk of both rising damp and fungal decay.

“It would be difficult to argue that the subsequent dry rot outbreak was not caused by this.”

A Department for Infrastructure spokesman said last week: “The Department is aware of the problem being experienced by Mrs. Hunter. We are seeking to identify the probable cause of damp ingress to her property and whether there are any measures we can take to help improve the problem she is experiencing.”

But Mrs. Hunter said yesterday (Wednesday) that she has yet to be contacted.