Siding Contractor in Roswell, GA for Hardie, Wood Rot Repair & Historic Homes

Hardboard and OSB lap siding are made from compressed wood fibers and resin. Once water gets past the paint at a drip edge, butt joint or nail hole, the fibers soak it up, swell, soften and eventually crumble. Repainting can't fix it.

Builders used hardboard on thousands of North Fulton homes from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s. Our dew points stay high, rain falls all year, and the shade from tall pines keeps walls from drying out, so these boards absorb moisture for months. Winter freeze-thaw nights then push the swollen edges apart. Many owners don't find out until a buyer's home inspector writes it up. By then, the sheathing and sill plates behind it are often damaged too, and that has to go into the repair plan.

• Bottom edges of boards flared, wavy or 'mushroomed'
• Soft spots that give when pressed with a thumb
• Blistering or peeling paint along lap seams
• Nail heads sunk deep into swollen boards
• Visible fibers or crumbling at butt joints
• Embossed 'wood grain' pattern breaking apart

We see it constantly in Martin's Landing and other 1980s–90s Roswell subdivisions, in Windward in Alpharetta, and in older Dunwoody and Peachtree Corners neighborhoods. It's usually worst on north and rear walls, behind shrubs and below roof-wall intersections.

Full removal of the hardboard, sheathing and framing repair where rot has spread, new housewrap and flashing, then James Hardie or LP SmartSide installed with proper clearances.

Even when the siding itself is fine, the wood trim around it often rots first. That includes window sills, corner boards, fascia and band boards. Water collects at joints and end grain, the paint fails, and the wood decays from the inside out.

Roswell gets more than 50 inches of rain a year, and the heavy summer storms push water into every unsealed joint. On wooded lots, leaves clog the gutters and the overflow sheets down the fascia and corner boards. Downspouts that empty right against the house keep the bottom of the trim soaked. On 1970s–90s homes, finger-jointed pine trim that was never back-primed simply doesn't last in this humidity.

• Paint peeling at the bottom of corner boards
• Window sills that feel spongy or crack
• Dark staining where gutters overflow
• Gaps opening at miter joints
• Fascia sagging or pulling away from rafters
• Carpenter ants or wood dust nearby

It's common around deck ledgers and roof-wall intersections in Horseshoe Bend, and on shaded colonials along the Willeo Creek corridor. We also see a lot of it on steep basement lots where two-story rear walls get the most weather.

Cut out the rot, check the framing behind it, and replace the trim with PVC or fiber cement trim boards, adding proper flashing and kick-out diverters.

This is moisture trapped behind the siding or synthetic stucco. It rots the sheathing, studs, sill plates and band joists out of sight. From outside, the wall can look completely normal while the structure behind it falls apart.

Many 1990s and 2000s homes in North Fulton were built with EIFS or with weak window flashing behind vinyl. Wind-driven rain from summer thunderstorms gets in, and humidity that rarely drops keeps it from drying. Expansive red clay and poor grading hold water against the foundation, so the bottom plate stays wet. Termites are active statewide and go after damp wood. We find this most often when we pull off old siding.

• Stains or bubbling paint on interior walls below windows
• Musty smell in rooms on exterior walls
• Stucco cracks or bulges near window corners
• Siding that sounds hollow or moves when pressed
• Soft flooring along exterior walls
• Termite mud tubes on the foundation

We find it often on EIFS homes in golf and swim/tennis communities like Country Club of the South and St Ives. It also turns up on low-clearance rear walls of basement homes throughout Roswell and Sandy Springs.

Probe and inspect, open up the damaged area, replace the rotted sheathing and framing, then install a drainable wall with fiber cement siding and fully integrated window flashing.

This is physical damage from spring hail, straight-line wind, falling limbs or tropical-storm remnants. Look for cracked or punctured vinyl, dented aluminum, chipped fiber cement finishes, and panels torn loose or blown off.

North Fulton sits in a severe-thunderstorm zone, and hail season runs from March through May. Older vinyl gets brittle after years of UV exposure and cracks easily. Tall pines and hardwoods drop limbs during storms. Irma's remnants in 2017 stripped vinyl off homes all over the area. When only one or two walls get hit, finding a matching discontinued profile or color is the hard part, and that becomes a key issue in the insurance claim.

• Cracked, holed or shattered vinyl panels
• Round dents in aluminum siding or trim
• Chipped paint spots on fiber cement
• Panels loose, flapping or missing
• Splatter marks on siding after hail
• Damaged gutters, screens and window wraps

After a spring storm comes through, calls tend to cluster in Roswell, Alpharetta and Johns Creek subdivisions. Wind damage is usually worst on exposed ridgeline homes in Milton and Crabapple and on wooded lots in Mountain Park.

Photo-documented inspection for your insurance claim, temporary weatherproofing, then repairs matched to the existing siding or replacement of whole elevations when the original profile is discontinued.

Green algae, black mildew and orange clay stains build up on the siding, especially on lower courses and shaded walls. On their own they're mostly cosmetic, but they show that the wall stays damp too long and may be headed for bigger problems.

Roswell's shade from pines and hardwoods, combined with summer dew points near 70°F, keeps north walls damp almost year-round, and algae thrives there. In heavy rain, red Georgia clay splashes off bare beds and onto the bottom courses, where it stains vinyl and soaks into painted wood. If the siding was installed without enough clearance above the ground, the bottom row sits in that wet zone permanently.

• Green or black film on north-facing walls
• Orange-red staining on the bottom 12–18 inches
• Stains that return within months of washing
• Siding touching mulch or soil
• Soft or swollen bottom course on wood products
• Musty odor near shaded walls

It's worst on shaded lots near the Chattahoochee in Roswell and the Spalding Corners/Riverside area of Sandy Springs, and on lake lots around Berkeley Lake and Mountain Park, where fog and humidity hang around.

Gentle cleaning, fixing ground clearance and grading, adding gutter diverters, and replacing the damaged bottom courses with fiber cement or treated products as needed.

Older vinyl siding that has lost its color, buckled from heat or become brittle with age. Panels can oil-can, sag, pull out of their locks, or melt where reflected sunlight from a neighbor's windows hits them.

Georgia summers bring strong UV and long stretches of 90°F heat. Darker vinyl from the 1990s and 2000s fades unevenly and can warp, especially where low-E windows on the house next door focus sunlight on a wall. On top of that, years of heat cycles make the vinyl brittle, so it cracks the first time hail hits. In HOA neighborhoods, faded siding can also lead to compliance letters.

• Chalky, uneven color between walls
• Wavy or rippled panels in afternoon sun
• Distorted or melted spots
• Panels unlocked or sagging at seams
• Cracks near fasteners or corners
• Loose J-channel around windows

We see it most on the sides and backs of brick-front homes from the late 1990s and 2000s in Roswell, Woodstock's Towne Lake and Duluth subdivisions. It's most noticeable on south and west walls.

Replace the vinyl with better-grade vinyl or, where the HOA prefers it, James Hardie with ColorPlus factory finish, which resists fading much better.

Woodpeckers chisel holes in cedar and wood siding, carpenter bees drill perfectly round tunnels, and Eastern subterranean termites eat damp wood from the inside. Once the wood is open, water gets in and rot speeds up.

Roswell's wooded neighborhoods are perfect habitat for woodpeckers and carpenter bees, and both love soft, unpainted or lightly stained cedar. Eastern subterranean termites are active all over Georgia, and they're drawn to wood that stays wet because of poor grading and shade. On 1970s–80s cedar and T1-11 homes, years of this damage pile up into widespread decay.

• Rows of holes or large gouges in cedar
• Perfect 1/2-inch round holes under eaves
• Yellow-brown staining below bee holes
• Sawdust piles on decks and sills
• Mud tubes up the foundation
• Hollow sound when tapping boards

It's common on rustic cedar contemporaries in Mountain Park and Berkeley Lake, and on 1970s–80s cedar homes along the Riverside and Willeo Creek area of Roswell, where woods back right up to the walls.

Replace the damaged boards in kind, or switch to fiber cement or engineered wood with a cedar look. Seal and finish the wood, and coordinate with your pest-control provider.