Wood Rot: What It Is, Why It Happens, and What to Do About It

If you own a home long enough, you're going to run into wood rot. It doesn't matter how nice the neighborhood is or how well the house was built. It's just one of those things that happens when wood meets moisture over time.

Most homeowners don't catch it until it's already become a real problem. By then you're not talking about a small repair anymore. So let's go over what wood rot actually is, how to spot it early, and what your options are when you find it.

What causes wood rot in the first place

Wood rot is a fungus. The fungus feeds on the wood itself, breaking down the fibers that give it strength. For that to happen, you need wood, moisture, oxygen, and warm enough temperatures. Your house has all four of those things in a lot of places.

The most common spots we see it are around windows and doors, on porch decks and railings, along the bottom of siding where it sits close to the ground, around gutters and downspouts, and anywhere water is pooling or draining against wood.

A small leak that goes unnoticed for a season is enough. A gutter that overflows every time it rains. A piece of trim that lost its caulk years ago. That's all it takes.

How to tell if you have it

The obvious sign is wood that looks dark, soft, or crumbling. If you poke at it with a screwdriver and it sinks in without much resistance, that's rot. Sometimes it's painted over and you won't see it from the outside, but you'll feel the sponginess when you press on it.

Peeling or bubbling paint is often one of the first things you'll notice before the rot itself becomes visible. Paint doesn't fail on its own. Moisture from underneath is usually the cause.

There's also dry rot, which can fool you. It looks dry and cracked rather than dark and soft, but it's still a fungal problem and still needs to be addressed.

Can you fix it yourself or do you need someone

Depends on how far it's gone and where it is. A small section of trim or a single board on a deck, a lot of handy homeowners can handle that. You're looking at cutting out the damaged section and either replacing the board or using a wood filler product made for repairs.

Bigger jobs are a different story. If the rot has gotten into structural framing, rim joists, window framing, or load-bearing posts, that's not a DIY situation. You want someone who knows what they're looking at before anything gets cut out.

The most important part: fixing the source

This is where most repair jobs fall short. You can replace every piece of rotted wood on the house but if the reason it rotted is still there, you're just buying yourself a few more years before you're doing it again.

Before any repair, the moisture source has to be identified and fixed. That might mean rerouting a downspout, recaulking windows, improving drainage away from the foundation, or fixing a flashing issue on the roof. The wood repair is secondary to that.

What we can help with

At The Handi-Craftsman, wood rot repairs are some of the most common calls we get. Whether it's a couple of soft boards on a porch or trim work that's been neglected for years, we can assess what's there, handle the repair the right way, and make sure the source of the problem is addressed so it doesn't come back.

If you've got a spot you're not sure about, the best thing to do is have someone take a look before it gets worse. Rot doesn't wait around.

Call The Handi-Craftsman @ 615-838-5528 or visit www.thehandicraftsman.com