Wood rot is a pain that all homeowners feel at one point or another. It can be as simple as a small piece of trim to residing an entire home. All rot can be detrimental to a home, especially if it goes untouched for a long period of time. As a homeowner one may feel that the rot is not a big issue. “It’s only one spot, I’ll take care of it once it becomes a bigger issue” or “we can get a couple more years out of it” these are a couple commonly used phrases used when some homeowners see said rot, and they are normal reactions to have but that being said by leaving rot it can become a much larger issue.
Wood Rot Gone Wrong
There are many examples of rot gone wrong. When you see an area of rot around a window casing it may seem like a small area, how could that possibly be a major problem? Small areas such as the corner of a window casing has exposed the wood rot behind it, but that is just the beginning of the issue. If not addressed water will continue to run into this small spot, dripping down into other substrates (shingles/clapboards) on the home.
Trapped Moisture
It could be the shingles underneath the window that begin to trap moisture behind them, if they are painted shingles this will cause every lair of paint on the shingles to fail. Pulling the paint completely off the shingles leaving a new area of bare wood to be exposed. This can keep compounding, exposing more bare wood, and allowing more moisture to get behind the shingles, causing more paint to peel.
Window Casing Rot
Sometimes the problem can be even more dire. Let’s stick with our window casing rot example. Once again, the small area of rot is exposed and allowed to get behind the substrates but this time it is a more drastic exposure to the moisture. That water will get behind the substrate, this time behind clapboards. The clapboards may seem to be okay; they aren’t cracking and are in relatively good condition but what about the plywood sheathing behind it? The substrate that the clapboards are secured to?
Unseen Menace: Rotting Framing
Even though the rot may not be exposed so that a homeowner can see the rot it can be an unseen menace. The moisture can stay behind the clapboards, softening the sheathing behind it until that is rotted out as well and is where the big headaches can come into play. If not addressed rotting sheathing can lead to rotting framing which can lead to major renovations needed to both the inside and outside of the home.
How To Fix Wood Rot
To fix rotting sheathing or even rotted framing a contractor would need to remove all of the outside substrates (shingles/clapboards) to expose the sheathing, then the rotted areas would need to be removed and replaced with either new plywood or a composite material to prevent the area from having issues in the future. Then a Tyvek “ice and water” wrap will need to be put over it to waterproof the area, and finally the areas would need to be resided and painted (if applicable).
Do Not Ignore Wood Rot
As shown in this case study rot is not something that should be ignored, but it can also be very difficult to identify. Painting companies may be able to see the rot but most are not equipped to handle it when it is found, thus being left for “the next guy to deal with”. That is why it is important when choosing a painting contractor that the company has a carpentry crew on staff to handle areas of rot as soon as they are identified and not left to get worse over time.
Choosing the Wrong Team May Delay Your Project
Imagine if an area of rot was identified such as what was written earlier in the study and a painting company was able to identify it and assessed that the painting could not be done until the areas were fixed. What if they did not have a dedicated carpentry team? The project would then be put on hold while the homeowner now tries to contract with a carpenter to fix the rot, now they are held to not one but two schedules.
The carpenter cannot be out for a month, then the carpentry is done but in that time period your painter has booked more work and cannot schedule it to be done as soon as the carpentry is finished. Now a project that was projected to take a week is now taking months to complete.
One Call To Do It All
At Stewart Painting we understand the challenges that a homeowner may come across when getting their home painted and we make it a priority to be ready for any issues that may come up during the project. As a company with full time washing/painting/carpentry crews we can tackle any challenges, and not only can we tackle them, but they can be coordinated from a central point of communication. No making multiple calls to multiple contractors.
The value of having a company that is one call and can do it all is undeniable, and Stewart Painting is that company for both Cape Cod and the South Shore.
Thank you for taking the time to read this case study and we look forward to hearing from you!
Give us a call or get a virtual quote online,
Jeff DiMarco
General Manager
Stewart Painting
