Exterior wood more than ruins your home’s curb appeal – it can also undermine the structural integrity of your home. If you find rotted wood on your home’s exterior surfaces, you may want to deal with the problem yourself or hire a painting company that could repair exterior wood rot.
Over time, moisture can penetrate the wood. As a result, the microscopic fungi grow and thrive, triggering and speeding up the wood’s decomposition process. If you live in an area experiencing 50-90-degree weather in most parts of the year, there’s a good chance that your house is suffering from rotting wood in one way or another. In this case, you should inspect your home regularly for mold, mildew, and wood rot, especially on the window sill, deck, porch, or siding.
While the paint is the first line of defense against the elements, paint alone cannot address the problems underneath. The problem areas should be appropriately repaired and prepared before being painted, depending on the extent of the damage. The final topcoat will provide a protective barrier between the surface and the elements.
How to deal with rotten wood?
You don’t always have to replace the siding or other affected parts of your home. You have to look at the extent of the damage and whether the affected wood feature is structurally crucial.
The sooner you spot the damage, the better, especially if the damage is still only minor. If the affected part doesn’t provide structural support and you’ve eliminated the water source (such as a leaking pipe), you can get by with minor sanding, filling, sealing, and re-painting. Or you may leave the wood as it is, as the rot will not spread since you’ve gotten rid of the water source. The sooner you deal with the wood rot, the fewer expenses you’ll have.
But if the rot has become advanced and the wood feature is structurally significant, replacing the wood, rather than repairing it, is the better option. The wood replacement may cost you a bit more at the outset, but in the long run, it will save you more money than repairing it.
Does a painting company also repair wood rot?
Many painting contractors in your area offer home improvement services other than painting. You’ll have to browse their company websites to check out their services, or you can contact them and ask whether they also repair and replace wood rot. If they do, they will include that in their estimate.
Custom Painting, Inc. is a licensed, bonded, and insured company with over 40 years of experience providing residential and commercial painting services to cities in and around the Bay Area. Our team of skilled painters and carpenters will make the wood rot repair and re-painting process as straightforward for you as possible.
When you’re looking for a painting company that could repair exterior wood rot, you may ask Custom Painting, Inc. for any number of references. We highly encourage you to ask! We can give you a list of references – we are sure our former customers are happy with the work we have done for them.