When I bought my house, my home inspector pointed out a few areas where the wood trim was rotting and said I should get it fixed. I noted it at the time but had my hands full with putting in new floors, fixing plumbing leaks and settling into my new home and life.
Since then, I’ve kept an eye on the wood trim. I’ve seen dozens of neighbors have theirs replaced or repaired by various work crews. Anytime someone has their house painted, replacing some of the water damaged is inevitable.
So I think about it from time to time. Who would I hire? How much will it cost? Can I wait until it gets really bad or until I need to paint the house?
Observing the trim worsen over time was a regular, unpleasant experience.
After the success of recent mirror framing project, I thought – I bet I can fix this trim myself.
After a week of watching YouTube videos I bought supplies and tools from Home Depot and gave it a shot.
I did OK.
Removing the rotten trim wasn’t too bad. Replacing it with PVC trim was relatively straightforward, although of course, nothing went as smoothly as the YouTube videos I had watched. Some of my replacement pieces didn’t quite match the thickness of the original trim. I had to tear out some backing board that was rotten behind the trim in places. There were gaps and problems that the YouTube guys didn’t have.
And let’s not forget, this was the first time I had ever done anything like this.
Still after a few days, I had finished the project to my satisfaction. I haven’t painted the new trim yet because the caulk I used takes a few days to cure. Once I paint it, my repairs will be noticeable to the casual observer.
Eventually, I’ll end up replacing full planks of trim and then it will look perfect. For now, it’s good enough.
The lesson I learned with this project has nothing to do with DIY, home repair or rotting wood. It’s that after worrying about this for 5 years, I eliminated the worry with a few days of work and about $200.
I could have done that from the beginning and saved my worrying for something more worthwhile.