You pushed a screwdriver into a window sill and it sank in like it was cake. Or you pulled off a piece of trim and the wood behind it just fell apart. Now you're wondering: dry rot or termites? It matters, because the fix is different. Rot is a water problem. Termites are a pest problem. Treat the wrong one and the damage keeps going. The short answer: dry rot cracks wood into small cubes and turns it brown and crumbly, and it almost always sits where water gets in. Termites

If you just found soft wood under a window or got a pest report with "fungus/dryrot" circled, here's the short version: most dry rot repairs in the U.S. cost between $500 and $3,000, and the average job comes in around $1,400 (Angi). In the Bay Area, plan on 30 to 50 percent more than that. So a rotted window sill or a section of fascia usually lands in the $500 to $3,000 range here. Once rot gets into studs, floor joists or the mudsill, the bill can climb past $10,000. The b