Warped or rotten timber: repair or replace?

Warped, split or rotten: three different problems

They look similar from across a room and need entirely different responses.

• Warped or bowed: the timber has moved with moisture but is still sound. Often correctable or liveable.
• Split or checked: surface cracking along the grain, usually cosmetic on external timber.
• Wet rot: soft, darkened, damp timber where water has been getting in. Localised to the wet area.
• Dry rot: spreads beyond the damp area, with fine strands and a musty smell. This one needs specialist assessment.

When a repair is genuinely the right answer

Splicing in new timber works well on door frames, thresholds, window sills, deck fascias and skirting, where the damaged section is limited and the surrounding timber is sound and dry.

It is also the right call on period property, where the original mouldings and section sizes are worth keeping and a modern replacement would look wrong.

When replacement is the only honest answer

Structural members carrying load, decking joists, anything where the decay runs further than you can cut back to, and any case where dry rot is suspected. Filling over failed timber hides the problem for a season and costs more in the end.

We will tell you which of these you have. If a repair will not last, we would rather say so than take the money twice.

Stop the water first

Rot is a symptom. A leaking gutter, a failed seal, a blocked threshold drain or ground level built up above the damp course will destroy new timber just as happily as it destroyed the old. Fixing the cause is part of the job, not an optional extra.

Questions we're asked about this