Rotted Garage Trim & Woodpecker Holes — Exterior Repair

Two separate problems on one house, and they turned out to be related in the way most exterior damage is: something let water in, and then everything downstream got worse.

Problem One — The Garage Door Trim

The trim running down the side of the garage door had split its full height, and the bottom foot had gone soft. Not soft as in "needs paint" — soft as in you could pull the fibres apart with a thumbnail. The paint was still holding the shape, which is exactly why it had been ignored.

That bottom section sits where splash-back off the driveway hits it every time it rains, and where snow piles against it all winter. Paint film cracks, water wicks up the end grain, and the board rots from the inside out while the surface still looks passable.

What was done

• Rotted sections cut out back to sound, solid wood
• New trim cut and fitted to match the existing profile
• Joints sealed and the whole run caulked against the siding and the door frame
• Primed and painted to match the existing white trim
• Bottom edge sealed to the threshold — the detail that failed the first time

Problem Two — Holes in the Siding

Up under the eave, a set of holes had been drilled through the cedar-style siding — the unmistakable work of a woodpecker. Small, round, and going straight through the board.

People tend to treat these as cosmetic. They are not. Every hole is an open path into the wall cavity, and the ones under an eave are the hardest to notice and the easiest to ignore for years.

What was done

• Each hole cleaned out and filled with exterior-grade filler, packed rather than skimmed
• Filled areas sanded flush to the board profile
• Primed and painted to blend with the weathered siding colour
• Surrounding boards checked for softness — sound, so no replacement needed

Working at Height

The siding repair sat at second-storey level next to a downspout, which is the part that changes a job like this from simple to considered. Ladder footing on grass, clearance around the downspout, and working one-handed at height all get factored in before a price is given — which is why exterior work gets assessed for height and access rather than quoted from a photo alone.

The Result

The garage trim is solid, sealed and repainted, with the bottom detail that caused the rot now closed. The siding holes are filled and blended — visible if you know exactly where to look, invisible from the driveway — and the wall cavity is closed to water and to whatever comes back looking for it next spring.