DIY
When do I panic?
What looks like water damage to the wood paneling on the outer wall of my house. Doesn't feel wet but does feel flimsy. Put up drywall? Sell my house and give up? I'm not very DIY smart.
Discussion
Looks like your window seal is bad. Check the caulk on the top and sides of the exterior window seal. Then you'll have to open up that wall and see what the damage is. If you are lucky the wood paneling will have absorbed the majority of water damage.
Use a cutoff tool on the trim and a small pry bar to pull it off the wall. You'll want to save that quarter round and foot board for after you repair the wall. Replacing it can be expensive.
I would same a good time would've been about a month a go, approximately
Would same as well.
Wood well as say.
Hmm... don't panic, but get yourself a respirator and some Benefect Decon 30. I'd bet the farm there's mold in there.
Look up the diy "corsi-Rosenthal" air purifier hack to help avoid panic :)
Do you know if those are fin windows or retro fit windows. If you raise the bottom sash do you see any screws going sideways or worse going down into the seal? Just trying to figure out if they screwed the windows into the seal which unfortunately isn't as uncommon as it should be.
…and when you repaint, use a good primer first, like Kilz.
When, last Tuesday. Now you need to find out what’s going on. Looks like it’s paint over paneling.
Good news is, there’s no primer, so pealing and scraping should be a breeze.
When you redo it, make sure to use a good primer 😁
Shotty window seals
This one has me curious. There is a possibility that you could get lucky with the peeling paint. It could be that the wood was never primed and moisture has destroyed the adhesion. While normally one should expect wood rot, the paint will come off so easily that you can look, probe, and find out what’s up? Do a lead check before diving into removal.
It looks like someone painted over paneling without priming.
If it was me id be riping it all down to the studs to get rid if that and properly insulating, wiring, then drywalling. And id be remembering to pva before painting
The pic under the window...could be a seal, but the other two are not under windows. So, it's a good time to do something now that it's dry, but no need to panic. It's fixable.
My pic isn't very clear, the two pics without a window do in fact have a window basically directly above it and to the left.