Service
Light Carpentry and Wood Repairs in Ottawa & Gatineau
Small carpentry fixes (rotted trim, damaged sills, loose boards) handled before the paint goes on.
Light carpentry and wood repairs are the work that has to happen before an exterior repaint is worth doing. Rotted sills, soft casings, split trim, sagging fascia and a porch board that gives underfoot are repaired or replaced first, so the coating goes onto wood that will still be there in ten years. Paint is not a repair. On failing wood it buys a season.
This work almost never stands alone. It opens most exterior painting in Ottawa projects, it comes before an elevation of aluminum and vinyl siding painting is coated, split casings and damaged sills reach it from crown moulding and trim painting indoors, deck boards and fence rails are made sound before painting and staining, and on an older home the prep follows our lead-safe practices.
Ottawa does not rot wood by being wet. It does it by freezing.
Exterior wood here fails on a specific cycle. Water gets into an unsealed joint or bare end grain, the temperature crosses zero, and the ice opens the joint wider so it takes more water next time. Environment and Climate Change Canada's 1981-2010 normals for Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport put those crossings at roughly 77 days a year, concentrated in March, November, April and December, which is exactly when snow melts against a sill in the afternoon and re-freezes overnight. The repair season is short: the same normals put the mean daily temperature above 10 C in only five months, and that one window has to hold the repair, the primer, the topcoat and the cure.
What is included
Sills, casings and exterior trim
Window sills, brickmould, casings and corner boards. These fail first because they catch water and hold it against end grain, and they are what a repaint gets applied straight over.
Soffit, fascia and rake boards
The band behind the eavestrough is where a slow gutter leak shows up as soft wood. The City's property standards by-law names it at section 18(3).
Porches, railings, steps and posts
Post bottoms on a wet deck, treads gone spongy, a railing that moves when you lean on it. Section 21(2) asks that porches and their supporting members be kept free of decay.
Where the line is, said plainly
Finishing carpentry tied to painting: repair and like-for-like replacement of trim, sills, boards, jambs and porch components. Framing, structural rebuilds and full deck reconstruction are a different trade.
Our process
Probe it, do not guess
Every suspect piece is probed rather than judged by eye, because paint hides the extent of rot and the soft area is larger than the stain suggests.
Cut back to sound wood
Decayed material comes out until what remains is firm. Stopping short is why repairs reappear: filler capped over soft, wet fibre simply floats on it.
Repair or replace, then seal the end grain
Sound pieces with local damage take a consolidant and an exterior filler. Pieces past that are replaced in kind and primed on all faces, cut ends included.
Fix the reason it rotted, then coat
A repair that leaves the cause running is a scheduled callback, so we point at the overflowing gutter or the failed sealant. Then primer and finish coats.
What does light carpentry & repairs cost in Ottawa?
Wood repair is priced by what is found, which is why an honest number needs somebody to probe the wood first. Condition matters more than the count of pieces, since three sills that can be consolidated and filled is a different day from three that have to be milled and replaced. Access moves it as much as anything, and so does what is behind the piece, since rot that has run into the sheathing can change the trade. Your estimate separates the carpentry from the painting, and if we find more once the paint is off you hear about it before we carry on.
Local damage in a sound piece takes a two-part exterior epoxy consolidant to firm up the remaining fibre, then a structural exterior filler that moves with the wood through an Ottawa year. Replacement stock is matched to the profile and primed on all six faces before installation. Interior filler used outdoors is the most common mistake we are called back to undo.
Want a real number for your light carpentry & repairs project in Ottawa or Gatineau?
Repair the piece with epoxy, or replace it
| Consideration | Consolidate and fill | Replace the piece |
|---|---|---|
| Right when | Decay is local and most of the piece is still firm | Soft wood runs through the section, or it has lost its shape or hold |
| Original profile | Kept exactly, which matters where the moulding cannot be bought | Has to be matched or milled, and stock profiles are simpler |
| Time on site | Usually the same visit, with cure time between steps | Longer: removal, matching, priming all faces, then fitting |
| How it fails if rushed | Filler capped over wood still soft, so it lifts as one piece | New wood fitted with unprimed ends, starting the same clock again |
Light Carpentry & Repairs: common questions
Because paint is a coating, not a repair. It does not stiffen soft fibre or secure a loose board, and the film fails along with the wood under it. Doing the carpentry first also means the repair is primed and coated in the same job.
It depends how far the decay has run. Where damage is local and most of the piece is firm, a consolidant and an exterior filler restore it and keep the original profile, which matters on an older house whose mouldings you cannot buy today. Where soft wood runs right through, replacement is the answer.
The finishing carpentry a paint job depends on: rotted or damaged trim, sills, casings, brickmould, soffit and fascia, porch treads, railings, posts and door jambs. Not framing, structural rebuilds or full deck reconstruction. If that is what you have, we say so rather than painting over it.
Press it. Sound wood resists a screwdriver tip; decayed wood takes it with almost no pressure, and the paint film often stays intact over fibre that has gone soft, which is why rot is usually found by a scraper rather than by eye. Dark staining and peeling that keeps returning in one spot are worth probing.
Inside the same window as exterior painting, roughly May through September. Environment and Climate Change Canada's 1981-2010 normals for the Ottawa airport put the mean daily temperature above 10 C in only those five months, and a repair needs its filler to cure and its topcoat to harden before the cold.
It can be, and it changes the method. Health Canada's guidance is that a home built before 1960 probably contains lead-based paint, and that on one built between 1960 and 1990 the exterior may. Cutting, sanding or heating painted wood of that age releases lead into dust and fumes, and Health Canada says plainly not to use sanders, heat guns or blowlamps on it. So we keep to low-dust methods, contain the debris and recommend testing. That is a practice we follow, not a certification we hold.