Repairing Exterior Trim and Molding

Whether your exterior trim and molding is for practical uses or for decoration only, if it is broken or otherwise in need of repair, you are going to want to fix it as quickly as you can before it gets worse, resulting at minimum in an ugly eyesore, or at worst, in allowing damage to your home.

Repairing this type of issue outside is no harder than removing and repairing it inside, although the steps are a bit different. The following guide will help you to successfully repair any exterior trim and molding problems you may have on your home.

First, you will need to gather your supplies. You need the following:

Safety Glasses

Drip Edge

Step Ladder that allows you to reach the area in repair without having to stretch (not necessary if repair work is not located in a high area)

Circular Saw

Nail Set

Hammer

Exterior Nails

Exterior Glue

Pry Bar

Exterior Caulk

Caulk Gun

Putty Knife for Feathering out Caulk

Exterior Primer

Exterior Paint

Paint Brush

If exterior trim is loose but still in good condition, you are in luck; repairing this type of problem means only that you must reattach the loose trim with nails, driving them in close to where the original holes already were. Then you can simply fill the holes with caulk, feather out, and apply a little touch up paint when caulking is dry.

If, however the trim or molding needs to be replaced you will need to do a bit more work. Your first step will be to take your pry bar and loosen existing molding so that you can easily remove it. Once you are finished removing the molding or trim, you should see an exterior drip edge. Take this down, being careful to wear gloves to avoid scratching or cutting your hands.

Wearing your safety glasses, cut a new piece of molding with your circular saw. You want to miter cut where the new piece will match the existing one that is still in good condition. Dry fit to ensure proper placement.

Cut your drip edge to size and slide it into place. Do not affix nails or screws to hold it, it simply rests between the house siding and the building paper underneath it. The molding will hold it down securely.

Apply exterior glue to the back of the cut molding and press it firmly in place. When it has dried, nail the header into place with exterior nails. You want to lock the joints where your two mitered ends meet, so drive a nail through the one and into the other, at a forty-five degree angle, where the miter joints touch.

Use a nail set to countersink any nail heads. Caulk holes and allow to dry.

Apply primer and allow to dry.

Apply paint and allow to dry.

You have now completed the repair work for your trim or your molding.