Before you hire anyone to fix wood rot: the questions that separate a repair from a patch

The questions to ask first

Before you hire anyone to fix wood rot, ask five things: whether they repair or sell replacements, what material they put into the damaged area, how they will find and stop the moisture, what their warranty covers and for how long, and whether painting is part of the job. On a house built before 1978, also ask whether they work lead-safe. A contractor who does this well answers each question specifically and puts the answers in writing.

I'm Ben Henderson, owner of Preservan Dallas. We at Preservan repair rotted windows, doors, trim, porch posts and deck posts in place with structural epoxy, and a good share of our work is redoing repairs that someone else did a year or two earlier. Nearly every one of those failures could have been predicted from the answers to the questions below. Use them with us and with anyone else you call.

Do you repair, or do you sell replacements?

This is the first question because it shapes every recommendation that follows. A company that sells windows and doors is not lying when it says yours needs replacing, but its advice comes from the product it sells. A painter will usually propose filling and painting. A rot repair specialist will propose repair. None of these is neutral, so it helps to know which one you are talking to.

We do not sell replacement windows or doors, and Preservan states that about 80 to 90 percent of wood rot cases can be repaired without replacing the unit. Even so, some damage is beyond repair, and a trustworthy company of any kind should be willing to tell you which pieces those are and why. If every piece on your house is either "fine" or "needs replacing" with nothing in between, ask how they decided.

On an older home, add one more question: what happens to the original material? Old sashes, brick mold and trim profiles were milled in ways that are hard to reproduce, and once they go to the dumpster they are gone. A contractor who values them will talk about keeping as much original wood as possible and rebuilding only what is missing.

What should the inspection include?

Ask how the inspection is done before you book it. You want someone who probes the wood with a tool, not someone who looks from the driveway and writes a number. The probe is what shows how far the decay runs under paint that still looks fine, and it is the only way the quote can match the real job.

Ask what you will receive afterward. Ours is an itemized digital quote with photos of each area, so you can see what we saw. Whoever you hire, ask whether the inspection costs anything and whether you are under any obligation afterward. Ours is free, and you are not.

What exactly goes into the damaged wood?

Ask the contractor to name the product and explain the steps. The answer you want covers three things: how the decayed material is removed, how the remaining wood is stabilized, and what rebuilds the missing section. In our process, the rotted fibers come out, the sound wood is treated with a marine-grade consolidator, and the missing section is rebuilt with Everesin structural epoxy, which bonds to the wood and is then shaped and sanded to the original contours.

Be cautious with answers like "we'll fill it" or a brand of filler bought at the hardware store. Many fillers do not move with the wood as it swells and shrinks through wet and dry seasons, so they crack or separate at the edges and let water in behind the patch. The National Park Service's guidance on historic wood windows describes consolidating decayed wood with epoxies and building up missing sections with epoxy patching compounds, and calls epoxies among the most durable materials available for wood repair. That does not mean every epoxy job is good, but it tells you the method is sound when it is done properly.

Then ask how the repair will be shaped. A rebuilt sill needs its slope back so water drains away from the house, and its drip edge back so water falls off instead of running underneath. A piece of molding needs its exact profile, or the repair will show from across the yard. Ask to see photos of finished work on details like yours, not only flat boards.

How will you find out where the water is coming from?

Rot is a moisture problem first and a wood problem second. A repair that ignores the water will fail no matter what product goes into it. So ask what the contractor looks at during the inspection: sill slope, gaps at joints, failed caulk, gutters that overflow, sprinklers that hit the wall, soil or mulch against the wood. Then ask whether the quote will name the moisture source and say what should change.

Some of those fixes will not be theirs to make. Redirecting a sprinkler or clearing a gutter may be on you or another trade. That is fine. What matters is that someone noticed it and told you, in writing, before the repair went in.

The warranty question most people skip

Ask how long the warranty runs, what it covers and what you would need to do to use it. A warranty measured in months on a rot repair tells you how long the contractor expects it to last. Ask whether it covers the repair itself, the paint, or both, and ask to see the terms before you sign rather than after.

Our epoxy repairs carry a ten-year warranty under the Preservan Promise: if the work fails because of workmanship, we fix it. I would encourage you to ask every company the same question in the same words, so the answers can be compared side by side.

Insurance, lead paint and the paperwork side

Ask whether the company is insured, and ask for proof if you want it. Work on ladders, around windows and on porches carries real risk, and you do not want an uninsured crew on your property. Preservan is licensed and insured.

If your house was built before 1978, ask about lead. The EPA's Renovation, Repair and Painting rule applies to work that disturbs lead-based paint in homes built before 1978, and it requires firms doing that work to be certified and to use certified renovators. Old window sills and door trim are exactly the surfaces most likely to carry layers of old paint. Ask how the crew will contain dust and clean up, and whether they are certified under that rule.

Finally, ask for everything in writing: the scope, the price, the timeline and the warranty terms. A short written quote protects both sides. It also makes it easy to compare companies, because you can lay the documents next to each other instead of trying to remember what each person said at your front door.

Questions about the work days themselves

A good contractor can tell you how long the job will take, what you will see while it happens and what the site will look like when they leave. Vague answers here often mean a crew that will start your job and then disappear for a week to finish another one.

Pay attention to the last question on this list. Once decayed wood is opened up, the damage sometimes turns out larger than the probe suggested. A professional explains that possibility before starting, shows you what they found, and agrees the change with you before doing extra work, rather than presenting a surprise at the end.

• How many days will it take, and will the crew stay on the job until it is done?
• Is priming and color-matched paint included, or will I need to hire a painter afterward?
• Can you match the original molding profile, sill slope and drip edge?
• How do you control dust, and how will you leave the site?
• Will I get photos of the damage before and the repair after?
• If you find more rot once you open the wood, how will you tell me and price it?

Red flags I would walk away from

Some answers should end the conversation. If you hear any of these, keep looking, even if the price is the lowest you have seen. If you are tempted to try the repair yourself instead, read my guide on what wood filler can and cannot do before you buy anything.

• A firm price from a photo, with no plan to probe the wood
• "We'll caulk it and paint it" as the whole repair
• No mention of where the water is coming from
• A warranty that is verbal, vague or measured in months
• Pressure to sign today, or a discount that expires at the end of the visit
• Every piece on the house is either fine or needs full replacement

How we answer these questions for you

When you request an assessment, a technician inspects, documents and photographs every area of damage and sends an itemized digital quote with recommendations and no upselling. The quote names each location, the repair, and anything we think should change to keep the water out. If you want to understand how a price like that is built, I explain it in what drives the cost of a rot repair.

Most repairs are finished in about a day, and larger or multi-area projects take two to three days, including primer and finish. You get before-and-after photos and the ten-year warranty is activated at the final walkthrough. For a step-by-step picture of those days, see what happens during a rot repair. We serve Dallas and the northern suburbs, including Richardson, Plano, Allen, McKinney, Garland and Rockwall.

Questions people ask me