A Bay Area television station called on UC Cooperative Extension wood durability advisor Stephen Quarles to comment for its story about "house-eating" fungus found in an East Bay home.

CBS TV-5 produced a story for yesterday's broadcast and Web site about the "rare fungus attack." Poria, the report said, is most common in the Gulf states, but it has attacked more than 200 homes in Northern and Southern California.

For the story, the TV station gave Quarles the title "fungus detective."

"You'll see them often behind a door you don't open so often," Quarles told the station. "The feeling that you're always dusting, always cleaning, there's always dirt."

This fungus gets into the home from the soil beneath, providing it's own water supply. According to the report, the only way to get rid of the fungus is to dig it out -- and the roots can grow up to 25 feet long. There are no chemical treatments.

The East Bay homeowner expects that ridding his home of the fungus will run $10,000 and is not covered by insurance.