A Cleveland porch takes more weather than any other part of the house. Sun, rain, freeze, thaw, and repeat, on a structure that is often sitting closer to the ground than it should be.
Patching is the right answer sometimes. These are the four signs that tell us it is not.
1. The bottom of the columns is soft
Water runs down a column and sits where the column meets the deck. That is where rot starts, and it is the worst possible place for it, because the column is carrying the roof.
Press a screwdriver into the base. If it goes in, the column is no longer doing its job, whatever the top of it looks like.
2. The framing against the house is wet
Where the porch framing meets the house wall is the connection everything else hangs from. It is also where water collects if the flashing above it has failed.
Damage here is the most serious kind, and it is the least visible from the outside.
3. The deck slopes the wrong way
A porch deck should shed water away from the house. When the supports underneath settle, the slope can reverse, and then every rainfall drains toward the wall.
A slope you can see from the sidewalk usually means the problem is below the deck, not on it.
4. Water stands on it after rain
Standing water is the summary of every other problem on this list. Boards that hold water rot from underneath, where you cannot see them, which is why a porch can look sound right up until it is not.
Why patching a failing porch costs more
If the structure is sound, patching is good value and we will say so. If it is not, the arithmetic changes.
New boards fixed to failing framing move, so the fixings loosen and the paint splits. That gets patched again. Meanwhile the part that was actually wrong carries on getting worse under the new boards, and by the time it has to be dealt with the good money spent on top is gone with it.
The question is never whether the boards look bad. It is whether the thing holding them up is still doing its job.
Thinking about a project?
Tell us what you are looking at and we will come and see it. The walkthrough and the written estimate are free.
