Handyman Service in Eltham

Softwood joinery painted every eight or ten years will last a century. Left for twenty, it will not. Eltham has a great deal of early twentieth century cottage-style housing with painted timber windows, porches, bargeboards and exposed external detail, and SE9 sees more rot repair than almost any other joinery task. The good news is that decay in these components is nearly always local, and cutting out and splicing in sound timber is far cheaper than replacement.

Where decay starts, every time

Water does not attack the face of a well-painted board. It gets into end grain and into open joints, which is why rot appears at the bottom rail of a window, at the foot of a door frame, at the mitre of a cill, at the end of a bargeboard and at the junction where a porch post meets its base. The paint film above those points is often intact, which is exactly why the problem goes unnoticed. Anywhere two pieces of timber meet and water can sit is worth probing.

Finding out how far it has gone

A fine bradawl pushed into the suspect area is the most reliable test there is. Sound timber resists; decayed timber takes the point to the handle with no effort. Tapping along a section gives a dull note where the wood behind has gone. Wet rot, which is what nearly all of this is, stays confined to the wet area and stops when the timber dries. True dry rot, which spreads through masonry and into dry wood, is a different problem entirely and is not something to be patched.

Cutting out and splicing in

The decayed section is cut back until every face of the remaining timber is sound, with the cut made as a long sloping scarf rather than a square butt, because a scarf gives glue area and sheds water. The new piece is cut from the same species with the grain running in the same direction, since a patch of a different timber will move at a different rate and the joint will open. End grain on both halves is primed before assembly, the joint is glued with an exterior adhesive and pinned or screwed, and the fixings are set below the surface and filled. Done well, the repair is stronger than the wood around it.

Where resin is the right answer and where it is not

Two-part timber repair resins are excellent for small, non-structural losses: a corner of a cill, a shallow depression, a rounded arris. They are not a substitute for timber in anything carrying load or spanning, and a large mass of resin in a moving component will crack away from it. The honest rule is that if the loss is bigger than a fist or the member is structural, it is spliced rather than filled.

Finding out why it got wet

A repair made without correcting the cause is a repair with a known expiry date. A blocked or leaking rainwater pipe discharging against the same spot for years is the most frequent culprit, and putting that right is a job for our Camberwell team. Other causes are a failed seal at a cill, a path raised above the damp course, a missing drip detail, or a downpipe throwing water onto a porch post. Where that water has been passing into the wall, internal staining and growth follow and need treating separately through what the visit includes.

Opening up a porch or a canopy

Dismantling any part of a porch frequently exposes an old supply to a light or a bell that was buried when the structure was built. Nothing is cut, moved or reconnected; the finding goes to our electrical services in Eltham, and the repair is planned around it.

Painting, and the sequence that makes it last

New timber is primed on all six faces before it goes in, including the faces that will never be seen again, and the joint itself is primed before assembly rather than after. Filler goes on over primer, not bare wood. A finish of three coats with the first thinned slightly into the surface will hold far longer than two heavy coats. Work is charged by time, and repairs are grouped by elevation so scaffolding or access is set up once. Comparable housing further north is covered by experienced handyman services in Lambeth, and the full list of exterior joinery work is on Fantastic Services.