trying to replace a section of rotted plywood behind siding

i discovered some rotted plywood behind some vinyl siding that i was replacing. there are two rotted sections -- right at the bottom of the wall and right below the window.

since it's easier to cut and replace just the affected sections of plywoods i started to cut out the damaged section using a circular saw (set at 3/4" depth -- the same as the thickness of the plywood) and a straight edge to get a straight cut. unfortunately the circular saw is too big to get right into the corner where wall meets wall (there's actually a non-movable obstacle that is hard to get behind) and a jigsaw hits the 2' x 4' framing beams behind the plywood.

i'm sure there's some tool or technique for cutting right to or very close to the corner. can anyone suggest how to get in there to cut vertically against the wall edge?

thanks

 

Sometimes you need a sharp chisel - I think this is one of those times.

 

Or a Rotozip with a wood blade. Not jumping the gun, but find out the source of the water and fix that while you have it nekkid.

 

yeah I was wondering about that too. it might have seeped behind the vinyl when there was some minor flooding a few years ago. the rot below the window is harder to figure out.

thanks for the tip on the rotozip

 

The rot below the window could be comming from the window or lack of proper flashing or both. dont ingnor it or you will pay big time later.

 

good point. only the bottom of the window is exposed and i don't see any flashing. i only removed the vinyl siding from the bottom of the window and down. i can't really remove the siding above that point without getting into major problems (electrical conduit, air conditioner, etc)

can i put flashing on the bottom only? it's obviously not going to be as good as completely around the window.

 

i read a few articles on the web regarding flashing. it looks like it will be very difficult to create a waterproof barrier because I only have access to the bottom edge of the window and because the window is already installed.

can anyone suggest the best method to install some flashing under these circumstances?

thanks