How To Repair Window Trim On House

Rot happens, fifty-fifty to the best of houses. All it takes is wood, h2o, and warmth, and before you know information technology solid lumber turns to mush. Exterior trim is the virtually vulnerable to attack by rot fungi, and it doesn't accept to exist very onetime; the trim shown here was installed only 10 years agone.

Fortunately, rotted trim is by and large easy to repair. (Rot-infested framing or mudsills pose a much bigger problem.) But before you can prepare it, you have to discover it. With screwdriver or awl in hand, scrutinize areas that are nearly horizontal and don't drain well, such as windowsills, baste caps, and water tables. Look for paint that is cracked, peeling, or blistering, or wood that's darker than the surrounding area or green with algae. Probe anywhere in that location's end grain, which wicks up water like a celery stalk in a course-school science experiment. Pay particular attention to joints, which dry slowly, and to all woods that'south shut to dirt, concrete, or masonry. If you're able to push the tool'south tip easily into a suspect lath, then it's time to root out the rot.

Step 1

Remove the Cap

Photograph by Brian Wilder

After slicing through the former caulk around the plinth (to avoid damaging the adjacent trim), Vietri pries off the cap molding and levers the plinth free. Its water-blackened backside shows how extensively moisture penetrated this assembly.

Step 2

Install Flashing

Photograph past Brian Wilder

Vietri protects the framing with overlapping strips of canvass-lead flashing. (Copper or waterproofing membrane also work.) And so he protects all the exposed edges of the old trim with a coat of oil-based primer.

Step 3

Apply Adhesive to Trim Edges

Photo by Brian Wilder

When the primer dries, Vietri squeezes a bead of polyurethane structure agglutinative over the edges of the old forest trim. He immediately beds the new plinth'south mitered side pieces into the broth, which is both strong and waterproof.

Pace 4

Install New Cap

Photo by Brian Wilder

A PVC-solvent-based cement bonds the mitered pieces of the new plinth to each other and makes the joints waterproof. Vietri also fastens the pieces together with stainless steel trim-caput screws. Dabs of acrylic glazing putty hide the spiral heads.

Step v

Prep for Paint

Photograph by Brian Wilder

A light sanding with 220-dust paper readies the plinth for a glaze of acrylic-based primer and two coats of acrylic pigment. The paint blends the repair with the rest of the trim, but information technology isn't needed to protect the PVC from the sun.

Source: https://www.thisoldhouse.com/siding/21016603/how-to-replace-rot-damaged-trim

Posted by: koehlertallean.blogspot.com

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