Wood rot repair in Tacoma, fixed right before the paint goes on

Rot needs wood that stays wet, and in our climate the same spots fail on house after house. Window sills and the bottom rails of window sashes collect rain and condensation. The bottom ends of corner boards, door casings and trim boards sit close to the ground and soak up splash-back. Fascia boards rot where gutters overflow or ice and debris dam them. Siding boards rot at butt joints and near the bottom course. Porch columns rot at the base, often hidden behind decorative wraps.

Older homes in North Tacoma, the Proctor District and the Stadium District often have original old-growth fir and cedar trim, which is naturally rot resistant but can still decay after decades of water exposure, especially where paint has failed. Many 1970s and 1980s homes have finger-jointed pine trim and T1-11 plywood siding, which rot faster once water gets in. Newer homes with fiber cement siding still have wood or composite trim that can rot at cut ends. Wherever we find rot, we also look up to see where the water is coming from.

Epoxy repair works well on small and medium rot in pieces that are hard or expensive to replace, like the nose of a window sill, a section of historic molding or the corner of a door frame. We dig out all the soft wood, let the area dry, soak it with a liquid epoxy consolidant that hardens the remaining fibers, then build it back with an epoxy filler. Once cured, we shape it to match the original profile. Epoxy does not shrink, sands like wood and holds paint well.

When rot runs deep, covers more than a small part of a board, or has spread along a long run of fascia or siding, replacement is the better fix. We cut out the damaged section back to sound wood, measure and shape new material to match the profile, and prime it on all sides and both ends before installing it. That back-priming is critical in our climate, since it keeps water from wicking into the new wood from behind. New pieces are fastened with corrosion-resistant fasteners, caulked at joints and painted. Our caulking and sealing work protects those joints afterward.

Paint cannot stop rot that is already active. If decay is painted over, moisture stays trapped in the soft wood and fungi keep working underneath the new finish. Within a season or two, the paint bubbles and peels in that spot, and the damage is bigger than before. That is why we probe trim, sills and fascia on every exterior painting job and fix decay first. It is also why a cheap paint job that skips repairs often costs more in the long run.

On homes built before 1978, rot repair often means disturbing old painted wood that may contain lead. We use lead-safe methods during cutting, scraping and sanding: ground plastic to catch debris, misting to control dust, and careful cleanup each day. We also check the cause of the rot, whether it is a clogged gutter, a missing drip edge, soil against the siding, or a failed caulk joint. Fixing the water source is just as important as fixing the wood. If gutters need work, we point that out so you can address it.