How to Repair Rotted Plywood

LESLIE: Jim in Texas has a question about the eaves in his home. What can we do for you today?

JIM: Yes. Several months ago, my wife and I bought our 15-year-old home here in Tyler and the – I’ve noticed that the eaves – and there are eight corners to the house. At all the corners, under the eaves, it seems to be rotting. And I just wondered if there’s some way to patch that, repair that without replacing that – I think it’s plywood.

TOM: Yeah. So you’re talking about the soffits when you say the eaves, the underhang of the roof overhang?

JIM: Yes. The underneath, yes.

TOM: OK. Mm-hmm. And it’s plywood that is rotting.

JIM: Yes.

TOM: So there are patching materials that are sort of epoxy-based that you can use to fill in rotted areas. But plywood ends to be pretty flexible and this is better used on something like a rotted windowsill.

JIM: Oh.

LESLIE: Mm-hmm. That’s not going to get a lot of movement.

TOM: Right. If the plywood is, in fact, what’s rotted, it’s really so easy to replace that that it’s not worth patching it.

JIM: Oh, OK. I just never had done that before and someone recommended Durham’s Water Putty.

TOM: I’ve used that for years. My dad used to use that stuff. I mean it’s been around my house forever and it’s very handy. So if it’s really small areas of rot, then Durham’s Rock Hard Water Putty is an old standard.

JIM: OK. So if just a small, like several-inch square, it would be OK to use that?

TOM: Yeah, as long as it’s going to hold it. As long as you have enough there to hold it, you should be OK.

JIM: OK. Alright. Well, very good. That’s my next project I have to do, so I’ve got to get that taken care of. I think it was because the leaves weren’t cleaned out of the gutters properly.

TOM: Ah and it was overflowing?

JIM: Right.

TOM: Yeah, that’ll do it.

LESLIE: And too much water was spilling up on it.

JIM: Overflowing at the corners.

TOM: Yeah, that’ll do it.

JIM: Well, thank you very much.

TOM: You’re welcome. Good luck with that project and thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.