Your Home: Shoddy Work and Its Devastating Effects

You won't believe it but something as unnoticeable as caulking your home between boards can lead to rot, mold, mildew, board replacement, re-caulking, and repainting long before it's due. So what are we talking about here? Poor weatherization of your home! You see caulking is not just for looks it weatherproofs your home making it much more efficient. Well, you may say, "I know. I'm not an idiot! Go right now and look at the boards on the outside of your house and ask yourself this question. Is this caulking job up to par?
You can tell really easily. If the caulk is recessed between the boards and hard to see it's done wrong. The caulk will break down from the weather and sun causing rain and snow to penetrate into your home thru the seams. Any place that two boards meet there needs to be thick detectable caulking. The caulk needs to be permanently flexible or it will deteriorate quickly. The sun and temperatures will cause the caulk to expand and constrict. If it's not flexible it will shrink and pull away from the seams.
You can take a look for yourself and access any problem areas you can see or you can have a professional come by and check for any problems areas. He will give you a free quote on any repairs he sees necessary and can point out any damage. This is a very important inspection since it can detail future problems. Problems like mold, mildew, warping, rot and the likes. Rot is devastating to your home. Boards will need to be replaced and painted long before it's due and that is very costly.
Go ahead and take a quick assessment yourself. Make sure that what's between the boards is not paint alone. If you think you need a professional then by all means have one come by for a free inspection and quote. He can save you a lot of headaches and expense. One thing our handyman pointed out to us were the unpainted trim boards. The tops and sides were of course painted but not the ends. This is where the rot began. Make sure the builder paints all trim work entirely, and caulks all seams and flashing. A good rule of thumb is a good caulking job should lasts about 15 years. So that's it. It just takes a little bit of spot checking on your end and you may save yourself a lot of future problems.


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