If you own a wood frame house with stucco, no worries, wood rot will not happen when the stucco is maintained. However, if your stucco has not been maintained, it might be time to worry. Stucco is porous and water and windblown rain can seep in – and isn’t covered by Homeowners Insurance. Once water is in the wall it never dries. It will rot the structure of the house breeding black mold as it goes. What could be worse? Hurricanes, these walls will not hold up to high wind pressure. It does not matter how you protect your windows if the wall is compromised. If your stucco has needed paint, neglected caulk around the windows or cracking these are areas that are taking in water each time it rains. If it is not bad get a painter now. If it has been going on paint will not help. Call us for your free estimate!

The most popular replacement method or “budget” method that we do not recommend is to cut the bottom two feet off around the entire house. Then put a 1″x 4″ board at the cut and new wood siding below the board.

Instead, we replace entire sheets of siding eliminating the leak issue and leaving little evidence of any rework. Depending on your budget we can water seal the back 24 inches and bottom edge of the wood siding before installation adding more years to the natural life of the siding.

We can also color match and paint the siding for you, offering you a complete job. If you have your own painter or you like to DIY, we always prime the siding to keep it water sealed until the paint goes on within a couple months.

One of the most amazing and versatile building materials available is wood. It’s a wonderful insulator and has wonderful structural abilities to accept paint, stains and varnishes.

This super material does have an Achilles heel and that is rot.

The interesting thing is wood rot is only caused by one thing, Fungi, which is the simplest of all plant life. Microscopic fungus spores are all around us, in the breeze and landing all over our homes. Wherever they land they need exactly 4 conditions to be present in order for them to create rot.

The 4 Conditions That Rot Needs to Occur

Wood, Warmth, Oxygen, Moisture

How to Stop It

So, how do you stop wood rot? You can always remove wood from the equation but for most of us that would mean remove our entire house. We often replace existing wood siding or panels with James Hardie fiber cement siding and we carefully prepare the existing structure to reduce water exposure long into the future.

If you have a problem with wood rot call us! It is one of our specialties! Take care of it before it becomes an even bigger and more expensive problem.