The details that decide how the whole job looks.

Trim is the first thing to rot and the last thing anyone budgets for

Walk around a thirty-year-old house anywhere in Fairfax or Prince William County and the siding is usually holding up fine. The trim is not. Fascia, rake boards, window surrounds, the corner boards where two walls meet — that is where paint fails first, and where the wood behind it goes soft.

There is a reason for that. Trim takes weather from two directions at once. A flat fascia board bakes in afternoon sun and then holds a bead of water along its top edge every time it rains. The wood swells, the paint film splits, water gets in behind, and by the time anyone notices a soft corner it has usually been happening for two or three winters.

What our weather actually does to exterior wood

We get freeze-thaw cycles most winters. Water wicks into the cut end of a board, freezes overnight, expands, and opens the grain a fraction at a time. Summer does the opposite job — humidity keeps everything damp, and mildew settles on the north-facing boards that never get direct sun to dry them out.

Then there is the wildlife. Carpenter bees drill into soft pine and cedar, almost always up under the eaves where nobody is looking. Woodpeckers hear the larvae and open the hole up further. We have replaced fascia for homeowners who were certain they had a paint problem and actually had a nesting problem.

What we install, and the honest trade-off on each

Cellular PVC (AZEK). It does not rot, does not absorb water, and insects have no interest in it. It costs more than wood up front. It is also, in most cases, the last time you pay for that board. On houses with a history of rot at the rakes or around the windows, this is usually what we recommend.

James Hardie fiber cement trim. The right call when you want the look and paint behaviour to match Hardie siding exactly. Their ColorPlus finish carries a 15 year limited finish warranty against peeling, cracking and chipping. We are a James Hardie Elite Preferred contractor, which is not something every siding company in this area can say.

Aluminum wrapping (capping). Bending coil stock over existing wood so there is no exposed surface left to paint. Done well it is close to maintenance free. Done badly it traps water against the wood it was supposed to protect, which is worse than leaving it alone. The Alside G-8 coil we use carries a 30 year manufacturer warranty.

The part most crews rush

Trim is detail work and it is slow. Miters have to close tight, because a gap that looks like nothing on installation day is a water channel by the second winter. End grain needs sealing before the board goes up, not after. Fasteners need to be set for the material — PVC moves more than wood with temperature, and if you nail it like wood it will oil-can on you in July.

None of that is visible from the street on the day the job finishes. It is entirely visible three years later, which is the only reason we go on about it. Our installation crews are our own, factory trained and certified by the manufacturers whose products they install — we are not booking a subcontractor you have never met to do the fiddly part.

How much does trim capping or soffit & fascia work cost?

Typical whole-house trim wrapping projects run $3,000–$7,500, with per-window capping around $85–$175 per window. What moves the number: how many windows and doors get wrapped, linear feet of fascia and soffit, second-story access, and — the big one — how much rotted wood has to be cut out and replaced before anything gets covered.

Only need a few problem spots wrapped, or thinking bigger — full AZEK or Hardie trim replacement? Reach out; we’ll scope what your house actually needs.

Don’t rule yourself out over budget. Trim work scales to what your house needs — a handful of windows or the whole exterior — and financing is available. Tell us your number and we’ll tell you honestly what it can do. And if another bid comes in far below these ranges, ask what it leaves out — these figures reflect the complete job, done by our own crews and backed by our workmanship warranty.

Keep painting — or wrap it once?

Exterior wood trim typically wants repainting every 5–10 years, forever. Aluminum capping (with AZEK or James Hardie trim where full replacement makes sense) is a one-time job with a factory finish measured in decades — no scraping, no priming, no painter every few summers. If you’ve repainted the same trim twice, the math has likely tipped toward wrapping it.

Doesn’t capping just trap moisture and hide rot?

Only when it’s done wrong — and that’s the most important question on this page. Bad capping gets wrapped straight over rotten wood and sealed flat so water sits behind it. Done right — and this is our standing practice — rotted wood is cut out and replaced first, the aluminum is bent to shed water rather than hold it, and caulk lines are placed so moisture gets out. That’s the difference between capping that protects trim for decades and capping that quietly makes things worse. Ask any contractor quoting you how they handle rot they find — the answer tells you who you’re dealing with.

How long does trim work take?

Combined siding and trim projects average about 4–6 days; capping-only jobs are typically shorter. Trim work also pairs naturally with other exterior projects — fascia gets handled with gutter replacement, and window capping is quoted alongside new windows — so one crew and one visit covers what would otherwise be two or three service calls.

Who we serve

We wrap and replace exterior trim across Northern Virginia — Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William, Arlington, Stafford, and Fauquier counties and the City of Alexandria — plus nearby Maryland communities including Bethesda, Chevy Chase, and Potomac. Like all our work, trim is replacement-grade: we don’t do patch repairs, except warranty service on our own installations. Licensed, bonded, and insured (VA Class A #2705075333, MD MHIC #05-131843), with our own factory-trained crews since 1993 — and every siding and trim job is backed by our 10-year workmanship warranty.

Trim questions homeowners ask us