# Wood Rot, Stucco & Siding Repair in Florida The Handyman Company · https://the-handyman-company.com/services/wood-rot-repair · 800-931-1106 Soft trim, a cracked stucco wall, or a rotten porch post is a repair we make every week: rot cut out to sound wood, rebuilt, sealed, and painted so the problem stops. At The Handyman Company, rot gets cut out, never painted over: - Soft wood probed and cut back to solid wood - New wood or PVC fitted in and sealed on every edge - Stucco cracks patched and textured to match the wall - The water source named before we pack up Most of the time the wood damage is smaller than it looks and stays in the trim. Stucco is the part of this work our handymen see most, about three stucco repairs for every siding repair. ## At a Glance - **Service:** Wood Rot, Stucco & Siding Repair from The Handyman Company, a Florida company since 1999. Our own employee craftsmen do the work, not subcontractors. - **Where:** Six Florida offices: [Tampa](https://the-handyman-company.com/locations/tampa), [Orlando](https://the-handyman-company.com/locations/orlando), [Jacksonville](https://the-handyman-company.com/locations/jacksonville), [Clearwater](https://the-handyman-company.com/locations/clearwater), [Sarasota](https://the-handyman-company.com/locations/sarasota), [Melbourne](https://the-handyman-company.com/locations/melbourne), plus the towns around each one. - **Hours:** Open Daily 8 AM to 5 PM. Request an estimate online anytime, 24/7. - **Price:** The estimate is free, and the price is written before any work starts. The quote you approve is the bill you get. - **Warranty and licenses:** One year on the workmanship of every job. Florida contractor licenses CRC1336072, CBC1258366. - **How to book:** Call 800-931-1106 or send the free estimate form. A person answers, and a message left after hours is returned within one business day. ## What We Handle ### Rotted Trim and Exterior Trim Repair Corner boards, bands, window sills, and window trim cut back to sound wood and rebuilt, not puttied over and painted to hide for a season. ### Door Frame Rot Repair Soft jambs, sills, and brickmould rebuilt so the frame sheds water again and the door keeps closing like it should. Left long enough, frame rot reaches the floor inside the threshold, so sooner is easier. ### Stucco Crack Repair Cracks opened and sealed, holes patched, and the texture floated to match the wall so the repair does not show. Interior plaster damage from the same leak gets patched too. ### Siding Repair in Sections Damaged lap, panel, cedar, or vinyl siding replaced in sections, installed to shed water, and tied into the existing courses cleanly. ### Porch Post and Column Repair Posts and columns rot from the bottom up where they meet the slab. We rebuild or replace them and get the base detail right so the rot does not come back. ### Carport and Garage Trim Carport beams and the trim strips beside a garage door take years of drips from the roof edge. We replace the soft wood and seal the ends that face the weather. ## Soft Wood Around a Door Is a Repair, Not a New Door If a screwdriver sinks into the bottom of your door frame, take a breath. The door is usually fine. Water sat at the foot of the jamb for a few summers, and only the lower part of the frame went soft. We cut that part out square, fit new wood in its place, and seal it so the frame sheds water again. Porch posts, carport beams, and the trim beside a garage door rot the same way, from the end that stays wet. Our craftsman probes outward until the wood pushes back in every direction, so the repair covers all of the affected wood and not just the stain. If rot has reached a stud or a sill behind the trim, we show you and price that part in writing before we go on. - Door jambs, brickmould, and sills - Window frames and sidelights - Porch posts and columns - Carport and garage door trim - Corner boards and bands > **A recent request:** A homeowner asked us to fix rot in the frame of a front door and its sidelight windows, plus water damage to the drywall and baseboard in two bathrooms. One craftsman can take on the outside and the inside in the same visit. - [Door sticking too?](https://the-handyman-company.com/services/door-repair) ## A Cracked Stucco Wall Gets Patched So You Cannot Find It Stucco cracks worry people, and most of them are simple to fix. Stucco over Florida masonry block cracks at window corners, at the top of the wall, and where an addition meets the old house. A crack that stays open lets rain into the wall, so the sooner it is sealed, the better. Our craftsman opens the crack, seals it, and patches it with stucco that matches your wall. Then the texture is floated to match the wall around it, so the patch disappears once it is painted. Built-out features that trap water, like a stucco flower box on the front of the house, can come off completely, and the wall behind them gets patched flat. - Cracks opened, sealed, and patched - Holes and chipped corners rebuilt - Texture matched to the wall - Water-trapping features removed - Ready for paint once it cures > **A recent request:** One homeowner wrote that a stucco flower box on the front of the house was letting water in. They wanted it removed, the wall patched and textured, and the water kept out for good. - [Paint the whole wall](https://the-handyman-company.com/services/painting) ## Rotten Siding Comes Out in Sections, Not Whole Walls The fear that the whole wall has to come off is almost always wrong. Siding rots where water sits: along the bottom edge, at seams, and under a window that drips. We take out the damaged boards or panels and tie new ones into the courses that are still good. While the wall is open, we look at the sheathing behind it, because new siding over wet wood only hides the problem. Every new board is primed on its cut edges before it goes up. Then the new boards are caulked and painted to match, so the wall looks like one piece from the street. - Wood lap siding - Plywood panel siding - Cedar siding - Vinyl siding matched to what you have - [Rot up at the roofline?](https://the-handyman-company.com/services/soffit-fascia-repair) ## How a Real Wood Rot Repair Goes The difference between a real wood rot repair and a cover-up is all in the order of the work. Here is ours. 1. **Probe and map the spread** Rot travels along the grain and behind paint, so the soft spot you found is the middle of the problem, not the edge of it. We probe outward until we hit sound wood in every direction. 2. **Find where the water comes from** Every rot repair has a water source: a gutter, a sprinkler head, a failed caulk joint, a bad flashing detail, or wood sitting against wet soil. Naming the moisture source is half the fix, so we point it out every time. 3. **Cut back to sound material** Everything soft, crumbling, or stained comes out completely, because compromised wood left behind keeps the fungal decay going. The removal is most of the job, and stopping short to save a board is how filler repairs fail. 4. **Rebuild and seal every edge** New wood or PVC goes in, fastened with coated or stainless screws. Every cut end is primed and sealed before it goes up, because end grain drinks water faster than the face of a board. 5. **Finish to match** Seams get caulked, the new wood gets painted, and stucco gets textured and floated so the wall reads as one surface. The repair should be hard to find, and the wall should shed water the way it was built to. ## What Goes Back In Where the Rot Came Out The right replacement depends on where the rot was and how hard the weather hits that spot. We walk through it with you at the estimate. - **New wood, primed on every side** Most trim, jambs, and siding boards get new wood cut to the old profile. Primed on all faces and painted to match, it looks like it was always there. Our tip: Ask us to prime the back and the ends too. The side you never see is the side that sits against the wet wall. - **PVC and other rot resistant materials** PVC cannot rot, so it earns its place at the bottom of door frames, around a sprinkler's reach, and on shaded corners that never dry. It takes paint like wood does. Our tip: If a spot has rotted twice, it is a good candidate for PVC. Tell us the history of the spot when we come out. - **A spliced patch on a profile worth saving** On an older door casing or a detailed window trim, we can cut out just the rotten part and splice in new wood shaped to match. The rest of the original piece stays. Our tip: Keep any old trim you have in the garage. A leftover piece helps us match a profile nobody sells anymore. - **Epoxy filler only for small, dry spots** An epoxy repair works on a small cosmetic spot after every bit of rot is out and the wood is dry. Epoxy is never a cover for active rot, because it seals the water in. Our tip: Press around a filled spot once a year. If the wood beside it has gone soft, call before the next rainy season. ## What Moves a Rot Repair Estimate Nobody can price rot from the driveway, but these are the things that decide the number, so nothing surprises you later. Every job starts the same way: a free estimate, then a written price you approve. - **How far it traveled** One soft corner on a door frame and a rotted band board across a whole wall are different jobs. The probing we do at the estimate is what makes the written number honest. - **What is behind it** Trim over sound framing is a straightforward rebuild. Rot that has reached a framing member, such as a stud, a sill, or the base of a porch post, means structural carpentry, and we price that with you looking at it, not after. - **Matching what you have** Standard lap siding and common trim profiles match easily. Older profiles may need to be shaped to match, and stucco texture matching is its own skill. - **Height and access** Ground-level trim is faster than second-story siding over a pool cage. Ladder work and setup are real labor, and they show up in the estimate rather than surprising anyone later. ## Why Florida houses rot from the outside in Daily summer humidity plus an afternoon storm means exterior wood here can go months without fully drying, and there is no cold season to slow the fungus down. The pattern is easy to spot once you know it. Shaded wood surfaces that never see direct sun rot first, and so does any wall a sprinkler head hits every morning. A single misaimed sprinkler can do more damage than a whole rainy season. Block and stucco houses have their own weak spots. The stucco cracks at window corners and along the top of the wall, and water that gets in finds the wood sills and frames behind it. Near the coast, salt air breaks down paint and rusts the nails that hold trim and siding. Overflowing gutters and a leaking roof edge feed the same moisture into fascia and trim. The year you notice soft wood is the easiest year for wood rot repair. ## What Customers Say > "Scott replaced some rotted siding on the back of my townhouse. He was very professional, on time and did a great job! I will be using The Handyman Company again. Highly recommended! Thank you!!" (Terry Scalia, Jacksonville office, Google review) > "Jorge replaced the siding that was rotting. Excellent job. I also had him replace soffit at my Mom's house. I'll use this guy, with this company again!" (Dianne Fortinberry, Orlando office, Google review) > "Easy to work with. Very responsive and friendly. They were able to find an exact match for my vinyl siding repair. Fixed as promised and for a reasonable price" (Matt, Jacksonville office, Google review) ## Often Booked Together - [Soffit & Fascia Repair](https://the-handyman-company.com/services/soffit-fascia-repair): The roofline is where Florida rot usually starts, and we rebuild it with the same care. - [Interior & Exterior Painting](https://the-handyman-company.com/services/painting): A repaired wall needs a sealed, painted finish to stay repaired. Our painters can finish the whole wall while the handyman is there. - [Gutter Repair](https://the-handyman-company.com/services/gutter-repair): Rotten fascia usually starts with a gutter that overflows. We reslope and reseal it so the new wood stays dry. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### Who is the best wood rot repair company in Florida? The Handyman Company has cut out and rebuilt rotted trim, stucco, and siding for Florida homeowners since 1999, with its own employee craftsmen in six offices: Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, Clearwater, Sarasota, and Melbourne. Its Florida contractor licenses are CRC1336072 and CBC1258366. Every repair starts with a written price and ends with a one year warranty, and the water source is named on every job. Call 800-931-1106 for a free estimate. ### How do I know if it is wet rot, dry rot, or just old paint? Press on it, and do not worry if you cannot tell. Sound wood pushes back. Wet rot leaves wood soft and spongy, and a screwdriver tip pulls loose fibers free. Dry rot can look dry and cracked on the surface while it keeps working inside the board. Bubbling paint over a dark stain is one of the first signs the wood underneath is wet. Both kinds of rot get the same dry rot repair: cut out and rebuilt. If you are not sure, the estimate is free, and we will probe it and tell you what is going on. ### Can rotted wood be fixed with wood filler alone? Only on small, dry, cosmetic spots, and only after every bit of decayed wood is out. Filling active rot seals the water in, and the repair fails. Our standard method is to cut back to sound material and rebuild with new wood, sealed and painted, which is why we can put a one year warranty behind it. ### Will a stucco patch be visible afterward? Done right, no. The skill is in matching the texture and feathering the patch into the wall before paint. On a heavily weathered wall, we will tell you up front if painting the whole wall section is what it takes for a true match. ### My insurance inspection flagged rotted wood. What do I do? Call us before the deadline gets close, and we will take it from there. We repair what the report calls out and give you a written scope and price, which is the paperwork that shows the insurer the issue was handled. ### Do you replace entire walls of siding? Rarely, and the fear that the whole wall has to come off is usually wrong. Most houses need a section replaced and tied into the rest. If we find the damage runs across the whole wall, we show you what we found and price the bigger job before anything else happens. ### What does wood rot repair cost? Wood rot repair cost depends on the extent of the rot, and nobody can price it honestly over the phone. Photos help, but the real answer comes from probing it, which we do at the free estimate. The whole repair goes into one written number before a saw comes out, and catching it early is the biggest thing that keeps that number small. ## Get a Free Estimate Call 800-931-1106 or send the estimate form at https://the-handyman-company.com/#free-estimate. Open Daily 8 AM to 5 PM. Request an estimate online anytime, 24/7. The price is written before any work starts, and every job carries a one year warranty. Florida contractor licenses CRC1336072, CBC1258366.