Wood Rot Repair in Woodstock, GA

Wood rot is what most people call it, and it is the reason most of our calls come in. Nobody stands in their yard thinking about fascia. They see a board that has gone dark and soft, or paint lifting in a way that has stopped being cosmetic, and they want to know how bad it is and what it will cost.

It is a fungus, and it needs water to work. Dry wood does not rot, however old it is. What happens is that a paint film breaks, or a joint opens, or water gets somewhere it cannot dry from, and fungus in the damp wood starts digesting it. That is why the rot on a house is never random: it is always at the places that stay wet. Behind gutters, at butt joints, at nail heads, at the bottom edge of a board, around windows and doors, at the base of a porch post, and along the shaded elevation that never gets sun.

The screwdriver decides it, not the paint. Sound wood stops a screwdriver almost immediately. Rotted wood takes it like styrofoam. Push in at several points along a board rather than the one spot that looks worst, because the damage travels along the grain under paint that still looks fine. Anything more than about a quarter inch of give is gone, and a board with soft spots at both ends is a whole board, not two patches.

Repair or replace. Small, contained damage in real wood can be dug out, hardened with a penetrating epoxy consolidant, rebuilt with filler and painted, and on an older house with trim profiles that modern stock will not match, that is the better answer. It fails in exactly one situation: when it is done over wood that is still wet or still getting wet. Hardboard is different. Once the core of a hardboard board has swollen, there is nothing to consolidate and it comes off.

What it costs around here. A section of trim repaired in place typically runs four hundred to a thousand dollars. A run of board replaced, including taking a gutter down and rehanging it, is usually six hundred to twelve hundred. The number moves on height, on whether staging is needed instead of a ladder, and on how far past the visible damage the sound wood starts. Where it moves most is if the rot has gone past the trim into the framing behind it, which is a different job and should be quoted as one.

Fix the water or pay twice. Every one of these repairs is temporary if the thing that wet the wood is still there. A gutter that holds water, a missing gutter apron, a downspout discharging against the house, a shrub grown up tight against the trim, an unpainted cut end: any of those will bring the rot back to new wood. A crew that replaces the board and says nothing about why it failed has done half the job.

What it costs

Prices here are the local market range, not a quote. The full breakdown, and what moves a number up or down, is on the Woodstock soffit and fascia cost guide.

How a repair visit runs, from the first call to the rehung gutter, is on the soffit and fascia repair in Woodstock, GA page.

Related work

• Fascia board repair and replacement
• Soffit repair and replacement
• Rotted fascia behind gutters
• Woodpecker hole repair
• Hardboard and Masonite trim
• Soffit vents and attic airflow
• Storm damage roofline repair
• Aluminum fascia wrap