Possible wood rot

[JLC]

We might have wood damage from carpenter ants. Another possibility is wood rot from moisture since this side of our house stays wet for a long time due to being in the shade for most of the day.

Should we look at removing the vinyl siding around the windows to check for damage to the wood (repair any damaged wood), replace the windows with new windows with the nail flange (doing the proper waterproofing around the windows), and then have siding re-installed?

Background info:
We purchased our newly built home 25 years age. We are looking at replacing our vinyl windows on the back of our house that has NE exposure and is usually in the shade. We have vinyl siding on the back of our house. This past fall, I hosed down the back of the house to give it a quick cleaning. When I did that, what appear to be carpenter ants came out of one of the second floor windows.

We do seem to have a lot of ants in the back of our house. We replaced a 10 year old cedar deck railing that rotted out and I suspected carpenter ants might have been a contributing cause. We have since hired an extermination company and will continue with services to get rid of the ants.

Of note is that carpenter ants can destroy wood much faster than termites.

On a more positive note, I had the back door replaced about 5 years ago ( I did not like the swing of the door) and there was no sign of insects or wood rot at that time. We replaced windows on the brick front of the house about 7 years ago and there was no signs of rotted wood or insects. However, the front of our house gets baked in the sun for most of the day.

[HomeSealed]

If you have concerns about the condition of the framing around the windows, I'd say yes, you'd be a good candidate for a full frame style installation. That doesn't always necessitate removal of the siding, particularly if there is existing exterior trim surrounding the current window. Even if there is not, the siding could be cut back to facilitate a new nail fin, flashing, etc rather than R&R'ed. Once the rough opening is exposed you will see just about everything that you need to see to know if you have any issues in or immediately surrounding the opening, whether it be due to moisture, ants, etc.

That said, if you wanted to inspect things PRIOR to contracting new window so that you could weigh your installation options accordingly, that is certainly something that is possible as well. Vinyl siding isn't that hard to pop a piece off and on here and there to peek behind things.

[JLC]

@homesealed. Thanks for the reply. It helps give me direction for my project.

We have a small vinyl repair at the very top of our house and I will see if I can hire a siding person to repair that and then also peel back some random pieces of vinyl to do an inspection. I wanted to get an inspection anyway to ensure the ants are eradicated. I was actually thinking about putting some holes on the interior drywall close to where I saw the ants to see what I find.

[Windows on Washington]

Any pictures?

Like HomeSealed said, inspection from someone qualified before, is going to be your best bet.