The wood below a few of our large windows (windows are 96"x36") is rotting. It's soft to the touch, and a mouse or rat took a couple chunks out of it last night. I called a siding company, who referred me to a window company, and both kind of scratched their heads. A carpenter told me it was too big a job for him on account of the windows.
What kind of service professional would be able to help me with this? What would be involved in a repair like this?
Here's a photo:
Best Answer
There's an alternative to replacing the wood; there are several ways to repair it using resins.
A simpler three-step process is to grind away the rotted wood down to good, solid wood. The void is then filled with a special epoxy putty that strongly bonds with wood, remains a little flexible, and expands and contracts similar to wood. The putty is shaped and contoured to match the original. If the original isn't a simple flat surface, the shape can be reproduced on a plastic scraper that is then used as a template to shape the putty. When it hardens, it is sanded and finished.
Here's a video of this type of repair: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3l5q0xaQEf8. As noted in the comments, the video uses an extremely expensive material. But you can accomplish the same result with much cheaper materials. For example, Bondo and others make special epoxy putties designed for rotted wood repair. Here's a link to the Bondo product: http://bondo.com/bondo-rotted-wood-repair-kit-20178.html, and a link to one sold by Home Depot: http://www.homedepot.com/p/PC-Products-Rotted-Wood-Repair-Kit-084113/100664090.