How to Spot Dry Rot in Eaves and Trim Before Painting a Carlsbad House

Press a flat screwdriver into the underside of the eave and lean on it before anyone opens a paint can. The breakdown sitting on carlsbad exterior painters indy grace lists the repairs that turn up during exterior prep in Carlsbad, CA, and rot in the trim is the one that decides how long a repaint will last.

Where the water gets in

Rot follows water, and water follows gravity. On older houses in Olde Carlsbad the first boards to go are the ones that face up or sit low: the bottom edge of window trim, the end grain of fascia boards, the ledge where a rafter tail meets the wall. Summer marine fog does not look like much, but a board that stays damp every morning for months gives fungus all it needs, even in a place with plenty of sunshine.

The probe test

Sound wood resists a screwdriver tip and splinters in long fibers when pried. Rotted wood gives way like wet cardboard, comes up in short crumbly cubes, and often shows cross-grain cracking in a checkerboard pattern. Probe the corners of the trim, the bottom of every fascia run and anything near a downspout or a sprinkler head.

What gets cut out and what gets filled

Small soft patches, about the size of a coin, can be dug out back to hard wood, treated with a wood hardener, and rebuilt with an exterior filler. Anything that runs along the grain for more than a hand span, or that has spread to the rafter tail, needs a new board. A filler pressed into a board that is still rotting only buries the problem, and the patch will crack and let go within a season or two.

Spackle is the wrong material outside. It softens when wet and falls out of a joint. Use a two part exterior filler or a wood epoxy, let it cure fully, and finish with sanding until the repair sits flush.

Priming the repair

New boards and freshly dug wood take a coat of primer on every face, including the back and the cut ends, because that is where moisture enters. Cut ends are the thirstiest part of any board. After the primer dries, a bead of caulk at the joints keeps water out of the seam, and then two coats of acrylic latex topcoat go over the whole run. Skipping primer on one cut end is how a brand new trim board ends up rotting from the bottom a few winters later.

Carlsbad rain is concentrated in winter, so repairs and priming should be finished well before the wet months.