Cathlamet, Washington
Dry Rot Repair in Cathlamet, WA
Dry rot repair in Cathlamet, with no trip charge. Rotted window sills and siding, porch and deck framing, opened up to solid wood and rebuilt by a licensed contractor who makes the drive.
Call (360) 431-9382 or book online for a free estimate.
You know the drive. Most contractors will not make it for a repair, and the ones who will add it to the bill. I take Cathlamet work regularly and there is no trip charge, because a rotted sill or a soft porch is the same job out here as it is in Longview, and it should cost the same.
A lot of the rot I see in Cathlamet is in manufactured homes and older houses with T1-11 siding. The sill under a window goes soft because the window was set without flashing, and the water that should have run down the face of the siding ran behind it instead. The fix is the window out, the siding and framing cut back to solid wood and replaced, the opening flashed right, and a new window set. Most of those are a day.
Covered porches are the other call I get, and they are the one to be careful with. A porch roof sitting on posts that land on the deck rim means the rim is carrying the roof. When that rim rots, the right repair is footings under the posts and a new beam line, not a new board where the old one was. I looked at one of those in Cathlamet this year and told the owner exactly that, and I would tell you the same. Some porches are simple. Some are not. The difference is what the roof is standing on.
Rot runs farther than it shows. I open the wood up until I reach solid material, and if it goes farther than expected you hear that standing there, before the repair goes ahead, not on the invoice.
Electrical and plumbing go to licensed trades. The carpentry is mine, and I am on the job every day. My shop is on Confer Road in Kalama.
Save yourself the wait
You already know how hard it is to get anyone out here. Send me photos of the soft wood and I will tell you what I think is behind it and what it takes to open it up. No trip charge.
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Dry Rot Repair questions in Cathlamet
Do you charge extra to come out to Cathlamet?
No trip charge. I take Cathlamet work regularly and I know what the drive is. You will not pay for it.
The wood under my window is soft. What is involved?
On a lot of Cathlamet homes that is T1-11 siding and framing under a window that was never flashed. The window comes out, the rotted siding and framing get cut back to solid wood and replaced, the opening gets flashed the way it should have been, and a new window goes in. One day on most of them.
How do I know if it is dry rot or just old wood?
Push a screwdriver into it. Sound wood stops it. Rotted wood takes the point with almost no effort and crumbles instead of splintering. If it is soft, it is not going to get better on its own, and it is usually bigger than what you can see.
My covered porch is rotted. Can you repair it?
Depends what the porch is holding up. I looked at a Cathlamet porch where the roof posts sat on a rotted rim joist, so the rim was carrying the deck and the roof both. That is not a handyman patch. It needs footings under the posts and a new beam line so the rim is not carrying the roof anymore. Smaller porches with the roof on its own posts are a much simpler repair. I will tell you which one you have.
Can you just replace the bad board?
Sometimes. If the rot stops at one board and the framing behind it is sound, that is a small repair. If the framing is soft too, replacing the board alone hides the problem for a year or two. I open it up far enough to find solid wood before I decide which it is.
What causes dry rot in Southwest Washington?
Water that keeps coming back to the same spot. A disconnected downspout, a window that was never flashed, a deck ledger with no flashing, a tub surround that leaks a little every day. Dry rot is a fungus and it needs the wood wet. Find the water, stop it, then repair the wood. Repairing the wood without stopping the water is throwing the money away.
Dry Rot Repair in Cathlamet
James Hurula Construction is a licensed Washington general contractor (JAMESHC764LM) based in Kalama, serving Cathlamet on every kind of job on this page. I also work in Longview, Kelso, Castle Rock, Kalama, Woodland, Vancouver, Battle Ground, Ridgefield. Thirty years of field experience, owner on site.
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