Video: How to Prevent Dry Rot

SANTA CLARA — Host, Sarah Rutan: While dry rot can occur from a variety of circumstances, the majority of instances are fully preventable. Today we’re in Santa Clara with Diamond Certified Expert Contributor Ilan Sigura of Sigura Pro Painting to learn more.

Diamond Certified Expert Contributor, Ilan Sigura: There are a few reasons for dry rot. There are reasons of maintenance, and reasons of failure in installation. Maintenance is the biggest issue. A lot of people try to save some money on maintenance such as painting or deck coating or deck sealant, and don’t paint as often in the house or the siding, the trim. And what happens is that when wood is not painted it’s exposed to the elements such as heat, cold, water, et cetera. When the wood is exposed to heat and cold, it expands and contracts and create – let’s call it like cracks.

So, when water goes in between the cracks it causes for the wood to be soft and over time to dry rot. If we are painting the wood very frequently, every five to six years, which is recommended by manufacturer, then at that point we are preventing and prolonging the dry rot to occur in the wood. If people will take the time and the budget to maintain the house and the decks, the house will last longer, the siding will last longer, the deck will last longer, and eventually it will save a lot of money in major repairs.

Host, Sarah Rutan: To learn more from local, top rated companies, visit our Diamond Certified Expert Reports at experts.diamondcertified.org.