Seeking repair person for Craftsman's rafter tails' wood rot
Hello!
I and my husband are going to sell our 1915 Craftsman home next spring. We are in the process of doing some sprucing up in preparation for the sale. The home's fancy rafter tails have wood rot, which we would like to have repaired, especially because we fear that the next owner might just lop the tails off if they appear to be a looming future pain in their rear, doing a disservice to the house. (This was done by the previous owner to the tails at the back of the house.) The house is a Japanese style-inspired Craftsman, with a sort of swept-up roof, and harmonious rafter tails.
In a perfect world, we could find a craftsperson who has experience with this sort of home, someone who would be appalled at the idea of not doing a quality job on such a cool home.
The bad news:
The house is in the lovely town of Crockett, which is 15 minutes north of Berkeley during non-rush hour. For some people, traveling from Berkeley-ish up to Crockett is like asking someone to commute to a distant planet.
The house is a two story on a hill, and so the work on the second story is high up.
We just spent a billion dollars replacing our aforementioned awesome swept-up roof, and therefore are budget-minded through necessity.
I would greatly appreciate any recommendations for a craftsperson specializing in this sort of stuff, or a talented woodworker, or the person who came over and did this for you before a house painting team came in and did a great job. Thank you so much for any leads!
Parent Replies
We also have a Craftsman home (little flatlands bungalow) with exposed rafter tails that can develop rot problems.
A key question is the extent of the rot. If the rafters are bad enough to undermine the roof, you've got substantial carpentry work ahead that would have been easier when you were re-roofing. If it's just the ends of the rafters and the roof structure is not likely to fail, you have additional options.
If the rafter tails aren't too bad, you can use epoxy materials to make repairs. This is a multi-stage process: First, the loose rotted wood needs to be removed. Partially rotted wood that is still fairly solid can remain. This wood is then saturated with an epoxy liquid that penetrates deep into the fibers, both strengthening the wood and stopping the rot process. Then another epoxy product is used to build up the rafter tails -- essentially, the epoxy takes the place of the missing wood. Then the rafter tails are primed and painted.
I've done the epoxy repair myself on rafter tails, and I'm only moderately handy. With patience, elbow grease, and a good eye, one can make a repair that is invisible and long-lasting. Whether this is more cost-effective than the carpentry route is another question, as the epoxy materials aren't cheap, and doing a good job takes time. I use products from Smith and Company (https://smithandcompany.org/), which are available at places like Ashby Lumber. There are also marine epoxies for wood repair sold at West Marine (https://www.westmarine.com/) -- they have stores in Alameda and Marin.
If you go the carpentry route and really want to preserve the look of the house, think about what wood to use and how it should be treated. When our house was built, the used tight-grained old-growth fir for the rafters that has been pretty rot-resistant. An addition was put on in the 70s using pine that rots quite easily. When we had some pine rafters partly replaced ("sistered"), I insisted on redwood. I've also sought to have the rafter ends very thoroughly sealed, as the end grain is the weak point.
PS from the person who wrote about epoxy repairs:
My sense is that many or most of the carpenters and painters around here are familiar with using epoxy for dry-rot repairs. Carpenters used to use Bondo, though it's porous once cured so it's not the best thing for wood.
If you need carpentry and painting, and your painting company says they have a carpenter, I'd check the carpenter's work before having them do carpentry -- there are a lot of so-so carpenters out there.