advice needed for exterior maintenance

My house was built in 1993 - it is a ranch, with a room over the garage. The windows are double hung, thermal pane, wood frames. The inside trim is a heavy honey pine moulding, they really are beautiful from the inside. And they work great, easy to open, close, and push out for cleaning. My problem is the darn wood trim OUTSIDE. I moved in 4 years ago, and the trim seemed in good shape at that time. I had a carpenter come last year and replace rotted sections of the trim and repaint all the windows. Now, I have noticed there is new rot, peeling paint, and I am just completely frustrated that I already have to deal with this again. Did I get a poor job done, or is this a yearly deal? I cleaned, primed, and painted my front porch two years ago, and it still looks awesome. I would have thought the trim would hold up the same way. I have been told by some "window experts" that the only thing to do is replace my windows, but I just think that is overkill, and there is nothing wrong with the windows themselves. I tried getting estimates on covering or replacing the wood trim with vinyl, but was told by the estimators that they can't do that - they have to do the whole window. Do I have any other options?

 

Sounds like your estimators just didn't want the work. Siding contractors in my area do this all the time. As a matter of fact I recently hired one to do the trim around the windows on our church. Keep looking for a siding guy. Covering with vinyl or aluminum is your best bet.

 

Thank for the reply - I was beginning to think that I was out of luck. I never thought to look for a siding contractor - do you think they would take care of the new rot that I have noticed, or do I need to get that replaced first, and then get the siding person to do the vinyl wrap process? Any ideas of the cost of this?

 

Some of your better siding contractors will be able to make the wood repairs also. You'll just have to ask. As to price, without knowing all the details I'd hesitate to guess, and costs vary a great deal from region to region inthe country.