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Problem:
The homeowners contacted our company, through
a neighbor’s referral, to evaluate some issues that
they were having with their front porch. They expressed concern
that the porch seemed to be sagging and that, “something
was just not right with the way it looked on the house”.
Evaluation:
After a site visit and preliminary visual inspection
of the porch structure, including the decking, steps, columns,
and railing system, it was determined and quite evident that
the porch needed extensive repairs. It appeared that the previous
owners, in an attempt to “pretty up the home”
to put it on the market, replaced the rotted front steps with
interior grade stair tread material, patched the holes in
the rotting columns and decking with wood filler and then
just coated over all of the remaining sub-rotted surfaces
and railings with a fresh coat of paint. At the time of our
visit all of the poorly chosen lumber was beginning to rot
again and there were signs the deck was “falling”
away from the house. A closer inspection, revealed by crawling
underneath the porch, found that the original home builder
of the porch failed to meet standard building codes. There
were not enough posts, beams and footings for the span and
size of the porch. The columns chosen for the porch were not
the proper load bearing type. The columns also were installed
in a way where the overhead beam of the porch ceiling did
not line up the load bearing floor beams. The 2x10 beams that
were spliced together were not thru-bolted and not placed
over their installed posts and footings. Finally, it was revealed,
the ledger board that adjoins and attaches the complete deck
structure to the house was only nailed to the house with interior
grade “bright” finishing nails, that were corroding.
There were sections of this board where you could fit two
fingers in between the board and the house, showing just how
far the deck had pulled away. The last major discovery was
that the 2x8 floor joists were only “toe nailed”
into the ledger board and outer beam boards, instead of the
required joist hangers. When we left the job site we politely
told the homeowners not to slam the front door too hard, that
if they did, their front porch might end up in the front yard.
In all seriousness this was how precarious the porch condition
was determined to be in.
Solution:
Removed and hauled away all decking, steps,
columns, posts and railings. Removed and set aside, for later
installation, the lower courses of vinyl siding along the
porch and house wall, and where needed, the vinyl lattice
work on the porch’s outer skirt. Provided temporary
porch column supports and shored up ledger boards that were
pulling away from the house. Once it was determined the work
areas were safe to proceed, there were six new concrete footers
dug and new 6x6 pressure treated posts put in place. The ledger
board was then secured to the house using galvanized lag bolts
and washers, staggered and placed into the bay of every-other
2x floor joist. We then installed one galvanized 2x joist
hanger with galvanized teco nails on each end, of each of
the 2x floor joists. These hangers secured the 2x joists to
the ledger board and outer beam board, pulling them together,
and preventing the porch from “falling away” from
the house again. The temporary columns were replaced with
new vinyl columns inter-laced with heavy duty aluminum load
bearing posts. Then using hydraulic jacks we raised the deck
structure to a level that was compatible with the front entrance
door and gave the porch decking the proper slope for water
dispersion. The previously installed spliced outer beams were
then thru-bolted in the center and a new 6x6 post and footer
was provided using the original concrete slab of the walkway.
Once the deck structure was raised to its desired height we
were ready to begin the new decking installation. The new
decking was installed on the porch and steps using low-maintenance
composite deck boards and color matching square-head screws.
We then installed the new vinyl railing inter-laced with aluminum
rails and new vinyl posts inter-laced with new pressure treated
4x4 posts. The finishing touches were completed by installing
new color matching rimboard around the entire skirt of the
porch structure and along the sides of the new steps. Finally
the vinyl lattice work and vinyl siding was reinstalled and
cut to accommodate the new height level of the entire porch.
Benefits:
All materials chosen for this project were
selected so that the homeowners would not be required to perform
any of the usual and customary scheduled maintenance of, scraping,
caulking, or painting, a project of this nature would normally
demand. The vinyl used in all the products is 99% recycled
renewable materials and LEED certified for energy conservation
uses. The white vinyl columns, posts and railings are made
of Pvc vinyl, that when wiped down on an as desired basis,
using an everyday house cleaner such as “409”
or “Fantastic”, will deliver a “showroom”
like appearance as if it were installed the same day. The
composite wood decking selected has a through-color technology
feature to it, that even if were scratched by furniture or
accident of some kind, the appearance would remain the same.
It is a no rot, no peeling, no chip, no crack product that
provides outstanding durability and low maintenance. And the
best feature of them all, you can send the kids out barefoot
to play on the front porch or deck and never ever worry about
them coming back with splinters in their feet.
Testimonial:
"We had four other bids before we met with
Troy. When he sat down with us and explained what he would
do to rebuild our front porch, I felt relieved and confident
that he would do the best job. Once the work began, Troy showed
us how unstable the original construction was. He was able
to re-enforce the porch and make it much stronger and more
secure. It was a wonderful experience and we are thrilled
with our new maintenance free porch." - Julie & Frank,
L. - North Potomac, Maryland
Materials:
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