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Lafayette doors live in the shade of the oaks on hillside lots: frames stay damp all winter and rot at the sill, wood doors swell and stick, and as the house settles the frame racks until the door binds at the top and the latch misses. We true the frame, rebuild the sill, rehang and reseal, and install the doors you choose with the fire zone in mind.
BEFOREAFTER
BEFOREAFTER
BEFOREAFTER
BEFOREAFTER
BEFOREAFTER
BEFOREAFTER
BEFOREAFTER
THE LISTALL DONEShade does not dry a board on its own. A Kaminskiy-certified technician from our Walnut Creek office, ten minutes down the 24, prices most of these on the call. One list.
Priced and on the calendar during the first call.
A written quote you approve before anyone drives out.
One crew, truck stocked, warranty in writing.
A one-year workmanship warranty, in writing, on every Lafayette job.
Big hillside lots with 1950s and 1960s ranch houses and newer custom homes, long runs of wood siding and redwood trim, heavy entry doors, and oaks over most of it. The uphill and north walls never dry, frames rack as the house settles, and the deck on the downhill side carries the weather. We true the frames, rebuild the rotted runs and match the siding and the stain.
Smaller older lots, shaded by mature trees and kept damp by the creek, with wood-framed windows, wood siding, porch posts and original doors from the 1940s through the 1960s. Sills and jamb bottoms go first, then the bottom siding courses and the base of every post. We splice new wood into old and get the grade back below the wood line.
Family streets from the 1960s and 1970s with redwood decks, pool yards, patio covers, French doors and sliders to the yard. Deck boards go soft at the ends over the water, rail posts rot at the base, beam ends check in summer and soak in winter, sliders wear. We rebuild where they stand and fix the garage-to-house door while we are there.
Shade and slope. Lamorinda's oaks keep the north walls and the uphill side of a house out of the sun for months, the winter rain drips off the canopy onto the same stretch of siding every storm, and hillside lots drain toward the foundation and settle a little every year. Wood that never dries rots under paint that looks fine, and frames that keep moving leave doors that bind and latches that miss.
Doors, drywall, siding, trim, fences, decks, rot, caulk and fixtures are handyman work. A roof, an electrical panel, a re-pipe, a gas line or a beam that holds the house up goes to the licensed specialty trade, and we say so on the call. Carpenter ants and termites are the licensed pest company's to treat; we rebuild the wood they hollowed afterward.
Most Lafayette jobs are priced on the call, in writing, from a description or a photo of the soft spot. A deck over the creek, a run of rot into framing or a bathroom refresh gets a look first and a written scope. What you approve is what you pay, and the office is ten minutes down Highway 24.
The 2025 map put most of Lafayette's hills in the high fire zone and a few streets in very high. California's wildfire standards for eaves, siding, vents and decks are written for new construction, so a like-for-like fascia or trim repair goes in to match; a whole eave, a deck or a new exterior door in the zone is a different question, and we ask the fire district first. Native oaks of twelve inches and up are protected, so we trim what touches the house and leave the tree alone.
Tell us the list, or text a photo of the worst item. Most small repairs are priced on the call, in writing, in under ten minutes.
A Kaminskiy-certified technician comes with a stocked truck and works through the list in one visit wherever the parts allow.
A door swap, a rotted frame or a bathroom refresh gets a visit and a written scope before anything starts. No surprises at the house.
The work area is left clean and every repair carries our one-year workmanship warranty, on paper.
Under California law a job below a small set amount may be done without a license, provided it needs no permit and no employees; beyond that the state requires a licensed contractor, which is where a hillside house's list lands by the second item. Kaminskiy Care and Repair is licensed (License #1120648), bonded and insured, with Kaminskiy-certified, background-checked technicians, and anything over the state's written-contract threshold is on paper before the first visit.
Lafayette's own exempt list puts termite and dry rot repair that adds no square footage outside the Planning Department's zoning check, and the building permit side is handled for the city by Contra Costa County's building inspectors under the state residential code, which asks no application for ordinary repairs to a structure and never the cutting of a structural beam. A sill, a fascia board, a rehung door or a run of siding is that kind of repair. A deck rebuild or rot into framing takes a county permit, and in the hillside and fire zones the fire district looks too.
Much of Lafayette has no association; the city's hillside rules, its tree ordinance and the fire map do that work. In the high and very high zones a new exterior door, eave or deck may have to meet the wildfire standard, and a like-for-like repair does not. Protected oaks mean we trim branches off the house and dig no new post holes under a canopy without asking. Where an association does review the outside, a repair painted to match rarely needs a form.
Ten minutes down Highway 24. Your Lafayette crew dispatches from our East Bay office on Quail Court in Walnut Creek, one exit east, so a hillside list is usually on the calendar within days. Call 925-302-5955, text a photo, or send the form. The whole East Bay is on our East Bay handyman page.
Can't find your answer? Call 925-302-5955 and ask us anything.
Call 925-302-5955We answer in under three rings and our Walnut Creek office is ten minutes down Highway 24. Most repairs are priced on the call and scheduled within days; a deck over the creek or a rebuild into framing gets a look first and a written scope.
Text a photo of the soft spot or the sticking door and the price comes back in writing before anything is scheduled. The reach and the depth set it: how much comes out once the board is opened, how steep the lot is, and the siding profile or stain it has to match.
Yes. The binding door, the soft siding course, the fence post on the slope and the ceiling fan go on one list, and one Kaminskiy-certified technician with a stocked truck works through it in one trip up the hill. Special-order parts are scheduled before we leave.
Siding, fascia, sills, doors, trim and deck boards are carpentry, which is what our technicians do every day, and Kaminskiy Care and Repair holds a California contractor license (License #1120648), bonded and insured, so a splice into a stud or a rafter tail is fine too. A beam or a ledger gets named before anyone opens a wall.
Not for an ordinary repair: Lafayette lists termite and dry rot repair that adds no square footage as exempt from its zoning check, and the state code the county inspects to asks no application for a repaired sill, fascia board, door or run of siding. A deck rebuild, or rot into a beam, takes a county permit, and in the fire zone the district looks too. We tell you on the call.
Because the house has moved. As a hillside home settles, the frame racks out of square, the door binds at the top and the latch misses the strike. We true the frame, reset the strike and rehang the door, and seal the bottom rail the shade kept wet.
In the high and very high zones a new exterior door, a whole eave or a deck rebuilt from scratch may have to meet the state wildfire standard, and we check your address before you buy anything. A like-for-like repair to a fascia board, a door or a deck board is not new construction and goes in to match.
All of Lafayette, including Happy Valley, Upper Happy Valley, Reliez Valley, Acalanes Ridge, Burton Valley, Springhill, the Trail neighborhood and the Reservoir streets, plus Orinda, Moraga, Walnut Creek and Pleasant Hill. Call 925-302-5955 to confirm your address.
Tell us the list, or text a photo, and we call back with a written price and a time. Calling is still faster: 925-302-5955.
Close to one of these but not on the list? Call anyway. If we can reach you, we will.
Ready to cross it off the list? Free quotes, a local Lafayette crew, and a workmanship warranty on every job.
We answer in under three rings, 24/7.No price games. You get a clear written quote before any work begins, backed by our workmanship warranty.
