Are your exterior walls rotting?

An issue we've seen lately, especially now that the weather is starting to warm up, is that of rotten walls on the sides of houses. And truthfully, it's not too surprising given the amount of record rain our area saw this winter and spring. We've had homeowners contact us thinking they have just a rotten strip of siding or window trim needing to be replaced only to find out the problem was much more than they could see from the surface.

Rotten walls are no joke and need to be remedied sooner than later. But, how do you know if you have rotten walls? There are a few telltale signs. You might notice warped sections of your siding, or perhaps streaked fading where water has been running or splashing. It's even possible you will have excessive mold growing on one section of your siding. When you touch these areas, you'll feel the siding give way to the pressure and easily break apart. If you're experiencing any of these with your house, you'll want to get ahold of a contractor right away.

But what caused the rot in the first place? It's simple: the rate of getting wet exceeds the rate of drying and over time, this breaks down the integrity of your wall. This extra moisture can come from a variety of sources such as missing flashing between touching surfaces (i.e. between the roof eave and the top of the wall) or poorly flashed windows or even splashback from having your siding too close to the ground. Left unaddressed, any of these causes allow for wetness to continue seeping into your walls and rotting everything along the way, which in extreme cases, can include the flooring attached to the walls on multiple-story housing.

Bringing a contractor out to examine the rot is crucial in order to fully understand the scope of the damage as well as identifying the source of the wetness. But beware of contractors who only offer to patch things up to make the walls look pretty again. While it could save you money now, a couple years down the road the rot won't only be back, chances are it will be even worse since the source of the problem wasn't addressed. Better to pony up the extra money now to do it right than pay for it in spades down the line.
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The Fort Rock Construction team has dealt with and corrected rotten wall issues throughout Eugene, Springfield, Cottage Grove and the entire Willamette Valley. If you suspect you have an issue, please give us a call today at 541-767-1611. We provide free, no-obligation estimates.