Dry Rot In Wood Siding

Protecting your wood siding from rot and decay.

Dry rot in wood siding.

The obvious solution to protecting and ensuring the longevity of your wood siding is regular maintenance. The following areas are the most likely spots for wood rot to get a foothold. If you ve caught an instance of dry rot early enough it can be stopped with boric acid. If the damaged area is structural or the dry rot infestation is advanced the rotted wood must be removed and replaced.

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. 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. Preventing dry rot is pretty simple. The wood siding must be at least 5 8 inches in thickness.

Use the same paint color of the existing wood planks to coat the new wood piece. Because wood rot occurs in damp areas that do not dry out it often goes undetected until a remodeling project exposes it. Causes of rotten wood. However the amount of dry wood rot on the surface can be misleading.

And as soon as you are aware of the damaged wood sidings call a professional to get a thorough look at the damage caused. Sprinkle boric acid across wood that shows signs of dry rot. Then saturate the surface of the existing wood with a copper compound before adding the new wood. This will help protect the new wood plank from damage coming from weather elements such as rain and intense heat during summer.

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. Step 6 paint the replacement wood piece. Wikipedia dry rot prevention. Understanding wood rot is the first step towards fighting it so take a minute to think about what causes wood to rot.

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. Do your best to limit exposure of wood in your home to moisture with these steps. Other visible signs of dry rot include blistering cracked or peeling paint wood darker than surrounding areas and green algae on the wood.