Home / San Diego Wood & Composite Siding Installation and Repair Contractor
San Diego Wood & Composite Siding Installation and Repair Contractor
Licensed General Contractor · Bonded & Insured · CSLB #1033958
Where siding fails
Behind the board
You see the symptom, not the damage
Rot & termites
Found & fixed
Repaired in the framing, not covered over
Fiber cement
Hardie Alliance
James Hardie Contractor Alliance member
Framing classification
C-5 licensed
Lic. #1033958 — family-owned since 2017
Siding repair & installation in San Diego County
By the time you can see it, it is behind the siding
Siding almost never tells you the truth about itself. What you notice is paint that will not hold on one wall no matter how many times it gets redone, a board that sounds hollow when you knock it, a stain that keeps coming back, or a soft patch low on the wall near a downspout. Those are symptoms. The problem is behind the board, in the sheathing or the studs, and it has usually been there for years.
Which is why we look at the wall before quoting a finish. We are a licensed framing and rough carpentry contractor, and rot and termite damage is a constant part of our work — so a spongy board reads to us as a moisture and pest question with a carpentry answer, not a board to swap. If the old siding comes off and there is dry rot in a stud or termite damage in the sheathing, that gets repaired properly. New siding over a compromised wall is an expensive way to make a problem invisible.
GC Framing is a licensed California framing and building contractor (CA Lic. #1033958, B and C-5), family-owned in Chula Vista since 2017, and part of the James Hardie Contractor Alliance. Two halves to this page: fixing what is wrong with the siding you have, and re-siding when fixing it no longer makes sense.
Half one — repair & replacement
Most siding problems are local
One wall, one corner, the bottom two courses, the run under a leaking gutter. If the rest of the house is sound, a repair is the honest answer and a full re-side is money you do not need to spend yet.
Dry rot repair
The bottom of a wall, behind a downspout, under a window, or anywhere a planter or sprinkler has been wetting the same spot for a decade. We cut back to sound material, repair the framing and sheathing underneath, then re-side and fix whatever was keeping it wet.
Termite damage repair
A hollow-sounding board or a soft stud gets read correctly the first time. Damaged framing and sheathing replaced, siding rebuilt over sound structure, and a straight answer about what is likely to be next.
Partial wall replacement
When the damage runs further than a few boards, replacing a full elevation is often cheaper and looks far better than patching — because the seam between old and new lands at a corner instead of in the middle of the wall where everyone sees it.
Paint that will not hold
If one wall keeps failing a few years after every repaint, the paint is not the problem. Something behind or within the siding is holding moisture. We look at the substrate before anyone spends money on another coat.
Impact & weather damage
A cracked board, a split corner, a run torn up by a branch or a ladder. Usually a contained job — the part worth getting right is the match, and whether water has been getting in since it happened.
Rebuilding what is under it
Siding comes off and reveals the real project: a rotten sill plate, a soft rim joist, damaged sheathing. Because we frame houses for a living, that is a repair we are equipped to do rather than a change of contractor.
The part nobody warns you about
Your siding profile probably isn’t sold anymore
This is the single most common surprise in a siding repair. A board milled decades ago is rarely something a supplier stocks today, and “close” on a sample looks very different across a whole wall. There are three honest ways through it.
Three ways to handle a match
We tell you which of these your house is actually facing at the walkthrough — before you have committed to a number that assumed an exact match existed.
When a patch is the wrong answer
Any two of these together and a re-side usually costs less over ten years than the sequence of repairs that would otherwise replace it one wall at a time.
How a siding job runs
Five steps, and step three changes the quote
Nobody — us included — knows exactly what is behind old siding until it comes off. So we tell you that up front instead of discovering it in an invoice.
Walk the walls
All four elevations, knocking and probing — not just the one you called about. We look at grade, drainage, gutters, sprinklers, and what is planted against the house, because those are usually the cause.
Scope, match & quote
Repair or re-side, which material, and whether your profile can be matched, milled, or should transition at a corner. In writing, itemized, with the likely unknowns named as unknowns.
Strip & inspect
Old siding off and the wall exposed. This is when we find out what is really there, and when we show you — with photos — before anything gets priced as additional work.
Repair the structure
Rot and termite-damaged framing, sheathing and sill plate cut out and replaced with sound, treated-where-needed material. The part that decides whether the new siding gets a full life.
Side, trim & finish
New siding installed to the manufacturer’s spec, trim and corners detailed, then caulked and painted or finished. Site cleared, offcuts hauled, and a walk with you before the final invoice.
In every siding job
How we work, written down
Half two — re-siding
What you put back on the house
The real choice is not the colour. It is how much maintenance you are signing up for, and how closely you want the house to look like it always did.
Low-maintenance materials
Wood, for when it has to be wood
Real wood asks for cleaning and refinishing on a cycle — which is fine if you want it, and worth knowing before you choose it. We also paint exteriors, so the finish can be specified and warrantied as one job rather than handed to somebody else.
Manufacturers & materials
Named in the quote, so you can compare quotes
Product and profile named by manufacturer in your written scope — which is the only honest way to compare two siding bids, because “fiber cement siding” covers a very wide range of prices. We install James Hardie and CertainTeed fiber cement, engineered wood, cedar, wood lap and board and batten, T1-11, vinyl and polymer shakes, and we are part of the James Hardie Contractor Alliance. Coastal exposure changes the fastener and trim spec — salt air is hard on hardware, and on a house in Cardiff or Imperial Beach that matters more than the siding brand.
While the walls are open
Siding off is the one moment in a house’s life when the outside of the structure is actually visible. It is the cheapest time to deal with anything else that touches that wall — a rotten deck ledger, framing repairs, a hose bib or an outdoor line, and the exterior paint that would otherwise be a separate mobilization next year. Because we also frame, plumb, paint and remodel, those come off one quote and one schedule.
Common questions
What people ask before they call
Can you match my siding?
Sometimes exactly, often closely, occasionally not at all — profiles get discontinued. Then it is custom milling, the closest current product, or re-siding an elevation so the transition lands at a corner. We tell you which before you commit.
Repair or re-side?
If the damage is on one elevation and the framing behind it is sound, repair. If it is on three, or the framing is involved, or it has been patched several times already, a re-side usually costs less over ten years. We will say which we think it is, and why.
How do I know if there is rot behind it?
Paint that keeps failing on one wall, a board that sounds hollow or gives under a thumb, a stain that returns, or a soft patch near a downspout or hose bib. Any of those is worth a look before it is worth another coat of paint.
What will it cost?
Too dependent on material, house size, number of stories, access, and what we find behind the old siding to post a number honestly. The walkthrough and written itemized quote are free, and the quote names any unknowns as unknowns rather than hiding them.
Do you paint it too?
Yes. We are a licensed painting contractor as well (C-33), so new siding and its finish can be one scope, one crew and one schedule instead of two trades pointing at each other about who caulked what.
My house is mostly stucco with some siding. Still you?
Yes — that describes a lot of houses here. Accent walls, gable ends, bay projections and second-story siding over a stucco ground floor are common, and those transitions are exactly where water tends to get in.
Where we work
The whole county, plus the mountain
Based in Chula Vista and repairing and installing siding across San Diego County — South Bay, the city, East County, and North County coastal and inland — plus cabins and mountain homes up in Big Bear, where freeze and thaw are hard on wood siding in a way the coast never is. Coastal houses get a different fastener and trim spec; salt air decides that.
South Bay
Chula Vista · Bonita · National City · Imperial Beach · San Ysidro · Otay Mesa
City of San Diego
San Diego · Clairemont · Mira Mesa · Miramar
East County
La Mesa · Lemon Grove · El Cajon · Santee · Alpine · Poway
North County
Del Mar · Rancho Santa Fe · Encinitas · Cardiff by the Sea · Carlsbad · Oceanside · Vista · San Marcos · Escondido
Get a free estimate
Tell us which wall
One soft corner, a run under a gutter, a wall that will not hold paint, or the whole house. We walk all four elevations — not just the one you called about — and put the repair or the re-side in writing, itemized, at no cost.
Photos help more on siding than on almost anything else. Mention you have them and we will ask for them before we come out.