Triple-decker porches, window sills, clapboard and the fascia behind an ice dam cut out and rebuilt with sound wood, painted to match. Priced in writing before we start.
BBBAccredited BusinessBoston is a wood city, and most of its wood is a hundred years old. Kaminskiy Care and Repair rebuilds the parts the winters take: the rear porches and stair stringers stacked three high on the triple-deckers, the sills and the bottom clapboards on the Victorians, the fascia and soffits an ice dam has soaked, the corner boards a nor'easter drove rain into, the roof deck boards over the brownstones. What comes out is rotted; what goes in is sound wood cut to the same profile, back-primed, caulked and painted to the house, and the gutter, flashing or grade that fed the rot is dealt with in the same visit. If carpenter ants or termites are in the wood, a licensed pest company handles them first. The price is in writing before anything starts.
Eight repairs, one crew, priced in writing before we start.
A nor'easter drives rain sideways into every joint, the snow refreezes at the eave and backs water into the fascia, the freeze-thaw opens the paint on the sills, and salt air off the harbor keeps the wood from ever drying. We cut back to sound wood, rebuild, prime and paint, and shut the water out.
AFTERBEFORE
Fascia & Eaves
Window Sills
Door Jambs & Casings
Trim & Siding
Termite Damage Rebuilds
Deck Boards & Railings
Stairs & Posts
Primed, Painted & SealedEvery one of these is a Boston house doing what Boston houses do, and every one is routine for a Kaminskiy-certified technician. A sill, a trim board or a run of clapboard is priced on the call, in writing; a porch or a deck gets a written scope after a look.
We answer in under three rings and get you priced and scheduled in minutes.
A clear, written quote with upfront pricing. You approve before work begins.
Kaminskiy-certified pros finish the job with a workmanship warranty.
Every rot and termite damage repair carries our one-year workmanship warranty, in writing, and is done by a Kaminskiy-certified, background checked technician.
Water from every direction. A nor'easter drives rain sideways into the clapboard joints and under the sills, the winter snow melts and refreezes at the eave and pushes water into the fascia and soffit, the freeze-thaw cycle opens every paint joint, and near the water the salt air keeps the wood damp year-round. A porch stringer or a post sits in slush and salt from December to March. On a hundred-year-old wood house the fix is sound wood, sealed on every face, and the water path closed.
The carpenter ant is the insect most often found in Boston rot: it nests in wood that is already damp from a leak and leaves coarse sawdust below the nest, and spring is when the winged ones show up indoors. The eastern subterranean termite is here too, coming up in mud tubes where wood meets the ground or the foundation. A licensed pest company handles either colony; we rebuild the sill, the post or the beam they hollowed out, after.
On a clapboard or shingled house we replace the courses that went soft, match the exposure and the profile, back-prime the new boards, and leave the sound siding alone. A whole-wall re-side is a different job, and we say so. The same goes for a sill: cut back, splice or replace, prime, caulk, paint.
An ice dam needs a warm attic to form, so insulate and vent it and keep the gutters flowing. Carry the kick-out flashing past the clapboard. Keep snow and salt shoveled away from the porch posts and the bottom courses. Keep soil and mulch an inch below the siding. Repaint before the paint fails, because on a Boston house the paint film is the weather barrier.
Three-family wood houses from the 1890s through the 1920s with rear porches, stairs and railings stacked three high, clapboard or vinyl over clapboard, and wood-framed windows. Porch stringers, treads and posts go soft, railings loosen, the bottom clapboards rot at the ground, and the owner or the condo trust needs the list priced. We rebuild the porches where they stand and put the scope in writing.
Victorians, Queen Annes and 1920s colonials with wood sills, cornices, porches, clapboard and shingle siding and deep eaves. Sills and cornice boards go soft, porch columns rot at the base, and the fascia behind the ice dam fails every few winters. We replicate the profile, splice new wood into old and keep the street face right.
Masonry rowhouses whose wood is the window sills, sashes, doors, cornices, roof decks and rear decks, inside the city's landmark districts. Sills and sashes rot from the outside in, cornice brackets go soft, and roof deck boards and railings take the weather. We rebuild in kind, match the profile and keep the commission's rules in mind before anyone starts.
A fascia board, a sill or a trim piece is priced on the call, in writing. A bigger rebuild gets a look first and a written price before anything starts.
We cut back to sound wood and probe how far the rot really goes. If it runs further than the photo showed, you hear it before we go further, with the price.
New wood primed on all sides, caulked, painted to match, and the water path that caused it fixed: the drip edge, the flashing, the gutter end, the sprinkler.
The work area is cleaned before we leave, and every rot repair carries our one-year workmanship warranty.
Massachusetts builds to its state code, 780 CMR, which says no application or notice to the building official is needed for ordinary repairs to structures, and that painting and similar finish work is exempt; the line is the substantial cutting away of a wall, the removal or cutting of a structural beam or load-bearing support, or a change to an exit. Boston handles minor alterations, repairs and replacements that do not change the structure on its short-form permit, and treats siding replacement as short-form work. A sill or a trim board is an ordinary repair; a porch rebuild, a run of siding or rot in framing gets the short form, and we tell you which on the call.
Massachusetts has no termite letter of its own and does not require one to close; a VA mortgage does, and plenty of buyers order one anyway. A Massachusetts-licensed pest control company inspects and reports on the national NPMA-33 form: termites, carpenter ants and powderpost beetles it found that day. The pest company treats. The soft sill, the porch post and the clapboard it noted are our work, priced from the report.
Beacon Hill, Back Bay, the South End, Bay Village and the other landmark districts review exterior changes visible from a public way; a repair that puts back the same wood in the same profile is the easy case, and we check before a bigger job. On a triple-decker turned condo, the porches and the exterior are usually the trust's, and we put the scope in writing for it. And on any Boston roof, the ice dam that soaked the fascia comes back next February unless the attic, the gutter and the drip edge are fixed along with the wood.
Can't find your answer? Call 617-606-4859 and ask us anything.
Call 617-606-4859Call in the morning and a sill, a trim board or a run of clapboard is usually priced before lunch and on the schedule for that week or the next. A triple-decker porch, a cornice or a whole wall of siding gets walked first, then a written scope.
Yes, once a licensed pest company has dealt with the colony. We take out the hollowed sill, post or beam and whatever framing we can reach, put sound wood back, and fix the leak that drew the ants in. Treatment and the report are theirs; the carpentry is ours.
The stringers, treads, posts, rails and decking, yes: that is carpentry, and Kaminskiy is licensed, bonded and insured. If the rot has reached the beams that carry the porches above, or the ledger at the house, we say so first and tell you who needs to look at it before anyone opens it up.
What sets it is how far the rot runs once the wood is open, how high the work is (a sill at grade and a cornice on the third floor are different days), and the profile and paint the new piece has to match. Send a photo and the number comes back in writing before anything goes on the calendar.
Not for an ordinary repair: the state code asks for no notice for ordinary repairs or painting. A porch rebuild, a run of siding or rot in framing goes on Boston's short-form permit, and the landmark districts review exterior changes. We tell you which on the call.
Not if it is fixed. We cut the sill back to sound wood, rebuild it to the same profile, prime, caulk and paint, and give you the invoice and the warranty in writing for the buyer's file. If the inspector also flagged a pest, the pest company treats first.
All of Boston, including Dorchester, Jamaica Plain, Roslindale, West Roxbury, Hyde Park, South Boston, Charlestown, Brighton and the Back Bay, plus Brookline, Cambridge, Somerville, Newton, Quincy and Milton. Call 617-606-4859 to confirm your address.
Tell us where the wood has gone soft, or text us a photo. We'll call you back with a price and a time. Calling is still the fastest way: 617-606-4859.
Priced in writing before we start. Kaminskiy-certified technicians. A one-year 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.
