My home is 8 years old. Hardie plank on all four sides and white wood trim.

I'm having some serious trim rot, so I started taking the trim off my windows and I'm seeing some things I might want to have repaired before re-trimming these windows.

It seems that our second story exterior windows do not have caulk on the nail flange. They are flashed appropriately, but on this section here, there are also no fasteners.

The trim installers did a great job of placing nails in the flange closer than 3 inches to the corners. I'm fixing that as I go along here...

The first story windows all have caulked flanges. All four sides are caulked with visible squeeze out.

I realize that someone is bound to say maybe they did not caulk the bottom flange for drainage. Is this appropriate? The two standards that I've read that cover the installation of windows all appear to recommend a continuous bead of caulk around all four corners. I could be wrong.

So far, it appears my second story windows do not have caulked flanges. I cannot feel evidence of squeeze out under the sides. I could remove the tar paper flashing to verify, but I hesitate.

https://imgur.com/mBOvqJo

Should I hire a company to reinstall these windows correctly?

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