Hi, you have helped me in the past. Hope you can this time too, also hope I'm in right forum. My patio door frame has rotted through in the right corner, about 2 ft across top, 1 ft down side. I changed the light and leaned into the frame and it crumbled. I poked and the paint crumbled off. Now it's raining for two days, went out and it dripping from the inside, like coming down from the gutter or roof maybe. The wall behind seems solid, there's a rusty streak off the side of the door.
How much trouble am I in? Do I need to hire a professional? Will they remove roof shingles and make it worse before repair. Help, please!!!

Best to have a qualified contractor to come take a look, maybe 2 or 3. You are at a disadvantage here because you are about to ask a contractor to bid on a job that the scope of work is unknown. Many fly-by-night contractors see this as an opportunity to make a lot of money. They will bid on something and then when the extent of the damage is exposed, they will hit you with expensive change orders. Mind you they are well within their right to get paid for items that they couldn't possibly bid on since it was damage behind a wall or otherwise couldn't be seen during the original site visit, it's how much they will charge you for the new items may be the killer.

My advise is to have 3 reputable, local contractors come and see if they can diagnose the problem with you, then have them bid on it. Ask them to itemize their bid as detailed as possible. Establish a per hour rate for work over and above the contract amount, just in case there are change orders. $35-$45 an hour is market rate around here. Then monitor the work to make sure you are not being overbilled for the change orders.