Problem: wood rot of cedar siding at the bottom (deck level) in a right-angle corner on the north side, therefore slow to drain and dry. (The prevailing wind is southwest and we have snow for 4 to 5 months every winter.) The deck was built onto the house (1986?) by the owner who did not instal flashing over the ledger and did not space it out from the house. I spotted damage in 1994, filled soft spots on the ledger, fitted flashing and so on.
Over about 10 feet horizontally, four or five (vertical) siding boards now are wet and rotting at deck level (discovered when cleaning the siding preparatory to restaining.)
Possible solution:
1 = remove deck board(s) and flashing: 2 = remove bottom 3 inches of siding by a shallow cut all the way along with circular saw 3 = replace this bottom 3 inches with a selected plank of new timber (previously waterproofed) 4 = replace flashing and reinstal the batten that shields its top edge from rain etc.Informed comments would be welcome, or a steer to a good web site tutorial on this sort of repair.
-- Don Phillipson Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada) dphillipson[at]trytel.com