Dry Rot In Wood Siding

The obvious solution to protecting and ensuring the longevity of your wood siding is regular maintenance.

Dry rot in wood siding.

Protecting your wood siding from rot and decay. If you ve caught an instance of dry rot early enough it can be stopped with boric acid. If it is a serious infestation then you need to call local termite control experts immediately. Causes of rotten wood.

Windowsills and doorsills are the building materials most often affected by dry rot but it can grow into non wood surfaces in contact with the ground including plaster and mortar. Then saturate the surface of the existing wood with a copper compound before adding the new wood. Step 6 paint the replacement wood piece. The wood siding must be at least 5 8 inches in thickness.

Wikipedia dry rot prevention. It is actually fairly simple lingering moisture in wood creates an environment conducive to fungi growth which in turn causes the wood s fibers to deteriorate. A minnesota contractor estimates that one out of eight homes will have dry rot under the existing siding and that repairs needed before new siding can be installed might cost 50 2 000 or more but average 200 500. Because wood rot occurs in damp areas that do not dry out it often goes undetected until a remodeling project exposes it.

Do your best to limit exposure of wood in your home to moisture with these steps. The following areas are the most likely spots for wood rot to get a foothold. This will help protect the new wood plank from damage coming from weather elements such as rain and intense heat during summer. Preventing dry rot is pretty simple.

Siding have wood siding sealed properly and installed by a skilled siding installer. If the damaged area is structural or the dry rot infestation is advanced the rotted wood must be removed and replaced. Boric acid is a powerful fungicide and can eradicate the rot causing fungi as long as they haven t penetrated more than 1 4 inch 0 64 cm into the wood. While maintenance is probably the least sexy term in the homeowner s dictionary it is essential to keep up on especially when you have wood siding.

And as soon as you are aware of the damaged wood sidings call a professional to get a thorough look at the damage caused. However the amount of dry wood rot on the surface can be misleading. Understanding wood rot is the first step towards fighting it so take a minute to think about what causes wood to rot.