Siding replacement
Siding replacement
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Siding in Frederick & Central MD
Trim, corners and capping
Trim is where a siding job is judged. From thirty feet everybody sees the panels; from six feet everybody sees the corners, the window returns and whether the capping has a crisp line or a wobble.
Licensed & insuredFree written estimatesFrederick-based crewClean-site guarantee
Quick answer
How much does it cost to cap windows in aluminium?
Capping a window or door is $95 to $240 per opening in Frederick County, depending on the size, the number of pieces and whether there is a brick mould to wrap. Rake and frieze boards run $8 to $16 per linear foot, outside corner boards $130 to $320 a corner, and a porch post $180 to $450. If the wood underneath has gone soft it gets replaced first at $18 to $42 per foot, which we quote after probing rather than guessing.
The work
What trim and capping actually involves.
Capping is bending flat aluminium coil on site to wrap sound wood that would otherwise need painting — window and door frames, rake boards, frieze boards, corner boards, porch posts and columns. Done well it is close to permanent and it reads as a clean, finished edge. Done badly it is the thing that makes a brand new wall look like it was finished in a hurry, and it traps water against the wood it was meant to protect.
The two things that separate the two outcomes are the brake work and the drainage. Capping is folded on a brake to the actual dimensions taken off that opening, with hems on the exposed edges so there is no raw cut showing and nothing to cut a hand on, and it is fastened so the fasteners do not sit in the water path. Then it is detailed to shed: lapped so upper pieces cover lower ones, left open at the bottom so anything behind it can get out, and not sealed into a closed box. Capping that is caulked shut all round is a wood-rot incubator.
It is worth being clear about what capping is not. It is a finish over sound wood, not a repair for soft wood — if a window sill or a rake board has gone, it gets replaced first, and we will tell you that rather than wrapping it. And capping fascia behind a gutter is a different job from this one: that work happens with the gutters off, is usually about rot rather than appearance, and belongs with the gutter crew. We do both, and we price them separately because they are separate visits.
Brake-bent on site to the actual opening
Hemmed edges, drainage left open
Soft wood replaced first, never wrapped
What trim and capping costs in Maryland
Priced per opening or per linear foot, because that is how the work actually runs. Replacing soft wood underneath is a separate line, quoted once we have probed it.
- Window or door capped, per opening
- $95 – $240
- Rake or frieze board wrapped, per ft
- $8 – $16
- Outside corner boards, per corner
- $130 – $320
- Porch post or column wrapped, each
- $180 – $450
- PVC trim board replaced, per ft
- $12 – $26
- Rotten sill or trim replaced, per ft
- $18 – $42
Ranges, not quotes. Real numbers come from a walkthrough — access, condition, height and finish level move a price more than square footage does. Estimates are free and in writing.
Get your numberFull trim and capping cost guide for MarylandPrefer to just talk?
Call and describe the job. You’ll get a straight answer on whether it’s something we do and roughly what it runs.
(301) 524-1729
Self-performed
Trim, corners and capping
What’s included
Everything the trim and capping scope actually covers.
Written into the estimate, not assumed. If something on your job is not on this list, it gets priced and named before anyone starts.
Every piece measured on the opening
01Dimensions taken off the window, post or board in front of us and bent on the brake to match. Houses are not square, and capping cut to a nominal size is capping with a gap at one end.
Hemmed edges and clean returns
02Exposed edges folded back on themselves so no raw cut shows, and returns closed at the ends. It is the difference between a joinery finish and a tin finish, and it costs only time.
Lapped to shed, open to drain
03Upper pieces over lower, bottoms left open so water and vapour behind the capping can escape. We do not seal a cap into a closed box, which is the most common way capping ends up rotting the wood inside it.
Soft wood replaced, not wrapped
04Every board probed before it is covered. Rotten sills, rake boards and corner boards get replaced in wood or PVC first. Capping over soft timber hides the problem for about five years.
Corner boards and PVC trim
05Where the look calls for a visible corner board rather than a vinyl post, cellular PVC or fibre cement trim installed and painted. It holds a paint line far longer than finger-jointed pine and does not rot at the bottom.
Colour matched to the cladding
06Coil colour matched against the new siding in daylight, with the same manufacturer where possible. A near-miss on white is more noticeable than a deliberate contrast.
On the job
Siding work across Frederick & Central MD.
What the trade looks like at each stage. Photos of our own recent jobs come out at the walkthrough, on the actual house.
Straight answers
Trim and capping questions
Not covered here? Call and ask — you’ll get a real answer, not a “depends on the job”.
Both, depending entirely on how it is detailed. Capping that is lapped to shed water and left open at the bottom lets the wood behind it dry and will outlast several paint cycles. Capping that is caulked shut all the way round traps every bit of moisture that gets in and rots the wood it was supposed to protect — and that is unfortunately the common version. The question to ask any contractor is whether the bottom edge stays open.
We will not. It hides the problem for about five years and makes the eventual repair worse, because the rot keeps going in the dark and you pay for the capping twice. Soft sills, rake boards and corner boards get replaced first — in treated wood, cellular PVC or fibre cement depending on the location — and then capped or painted. If somebody has quoted you capping over soft wood, that is the thing to query.
That is a different job and we price it separately. Fascia sits behind the gutter, so the work means taking the gutter down, dealing with whatever rot the gutter has been leaking onto, and rehanging — it is gutter-side work driven by water damage rather than appearance. The capping on this page is the trim on the face of the house: windows, rakes, friezes, corners and posts. We do both trades, and saying which one you need is part of the walkthrough.
Same crew, same visit
The rest of the siding work.
Most siding jobs are two or three of these at once, which is why they are priced and scheduled together rather than as separate call-outs.
From the field
Read up before you book.
Longer answers than a quote page has room for — how the work fails, what putting it right actually involves, and when waiting is the honest call.
Sources worth your time
Check us, and check the work
None of these are ours. They are the offices and standards bodies that set the rules we work to, so you can verify what we say rather than take it.
Maryland Home Improvement Commission
Check any Maryland contractor's licence before you sign. Ours is on file with the Commission.
OpenNational Association of Home Builders
Where the residential-construction standards and material research behind these decisions are published.
OpenCity of Frederick
Inside city limits, and especially inside the historic district, exterior changes have their own review path.
Open
Talk to the people doing the work
Get a straight number for the whole job.
Tell us what needs doing. We’ll walk it with you, sequence every trade it touches, put the price in writing, and leave you to decide.
Get a quote
Let’s price your project.
Two short steps. No obligation, no pressure — just a clear number and a straight answer about what the job involves.
Tick as many as you like. Most jobs are two or three of them at once, and I sort out the detail when I come and look. Nobody gets turned away for choosing the wrong box.
