Branchburg Porch Rebuild

This picture shows what water, sun and time had done to the decking.  This rot is right by a corner post.  

 

After removing the decking, it became clear that some of the posts holding up the porch roof had no framing structure underneath them at all!  

 

With the roof jacked up and temporarily propped in place, the porch posts cold be removed and new framing put in to support the posts when they are reinstalled.  

 

Backpriming--painting the underside of the decking--is a critical detail to prolonging life.  Painting the underside helps to prevent cupping and to stop ground moisture from penetrating the wood and causing paint to peel on top.   

 

The porch steps are completely reframed.  The old steps had only three stringers, and a sinking footing had caused a dangerous slope on the treads.  

 

 

The tongue and groove Douglas fir decking is installed using a waterproof adhesive and stainless steel nails.  This porch had developed a pitch toward the house over time, causing rain water to flow the wrong way.  To correct this problem a combination of cutting down the front piers and also shimming the back joists is used to make up almost an inch in some areas!  The posts are reinstalled along the way.  

 

With all of the decking installed, any imperfections are filled with a high performance wood epoxy and a floor sander is used to smooth out the entire surface.  

 

The metal railings are reinstalled and given a coating of a high quality satin white paint to freshen them up.  

 

The lattice and trim on the side of the deck are installed and the entire porch and steps are primed.  My client will handle the final two coats of a latex enamel porch and floor paint. 

My clients had patched and painted for as long as they could and it was time to restore the front porch.

This house was built in a development by a major regional builder not quite two decades ago. The porch was not especially well constructed, but with some attention to detail it would be nicely restored. Not incidentally, a short time later I reconstructed a neighbor's porch with the same issues.

--John Painter, Owner