What sort of work needs to be done on a house with rotting wood on the outside?

Question

Apologies if this isn’t the appropriate forum to post this, since I am looking to hire someone and not DIY this.

I own a wood frame house in Florida that has several areas where it looks like the wood is rotting. Right now we are addressing some preliminary issues (just had a bee hive removed from our patio walls, getting a termite inspection next, and considering a roof inspection to check for leaks) before hiring someone to do all of the repairs.

I need to know if this project is big enough that I should be hiring a general contractor to go through, or if I should just hire a carpenter? I assume it’s too big of a job for an average handyman?

Also I want to make sure we don’t miss any areas of damage and end up having to hire someone again a few months down the line. Some spots that are rotten look fine on the surface and are only noticeable if you push against the wood and feel it give. Could I hire someone like a home inspector to find all of the problems that should be fixed? I figure asking the person I’m paying to do the repairs to also do the inspection would potentially be a bad idea since finding more to repair would be in their best interest but not necessarily mine, and I’m worried I won’t know everything to look for if I do it myself.

Other information that may be worth knowing

• It is a two story house.
• I believe water damage is the culprit for some if not all of the damaged areas.
• The worst damage is on the southern side of the house, and under an east facing bay window.
• We also have an attached, screened in wood patio with pretty bad rot in several places (not included in pictures because it’s hard to get photos around the plants in the yard).
• Several years ago we had repairs done and found that the previous owners had done many patch jobs using strand board or something similar, so that is almost certainly part of the problem.
• We are planning to move and sell the house in 2 to 3 years. I want to make sure the repairs are done right and not leave problems for future homeowners, but I don’t want to overinvest.

Here are some photos of the damage:

Thank you very much

Answer 1

None of the above. You need to hire a company that specializes in siding. If you are going to replace with wood panels everything you have needs to be taken down. If you chose some sort of vinyl you can probably go right over the top of everything and wrap smaller areas, fascia, trim...

From all of the different areas you could end up paying thousands to patch it up. Having the siding redone might be about the same price. Either way because you are selling in 2-3 years you will for sure need siding redone before sale unless you want to get 80% of what you could get. Might as well get it done and enjoy it.

Answer 2

It looks like a faux board and batten cladding using plywood and boards to me and appears to be very near the end of its life given the multiple spots where damage has occurred.

I think it needs re-sided, which is its own specialty.