Evil Roy
Deepinahearta, Texas
Posts: 170
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| Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2007 11:21 pm Post subject: |
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The boards that you see are cosmetic. They don't hold up the porch. The first thing you need to do to assess the damage is to remove the outside panels. That will let you see the studs that do the real work. If they are rotted, you can put in new ones next to the old ones and then take out the old. Use full length boards, patching the old will leave a weak place. After the bad wood has been replaced, you'll need to fix the real problem. It looks like you don't have sufficient drainage around the porch. As long as you have wood touching soil or plants, you'll have problems with rot. Dig a small trench along the wall and lower the ground. Continue the trench to a place where the water can run away from the wall. Next, put a line of bricks or rocks about 4 inches from the wall and put the soil back on the outside of the bricks. This will create a small wall and the water will run the other way. Any standing water won't matter. It's really hard to rot brick. Also, mix up a strong boric acid solution and spray it on the wood before you put the outside wood back on. This will help keep the bugs away.
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