Porch repair

[tvgordon]

I need to repair my porch and had a few questions.

First, what is the best way to lift the porch roof about an inch so the boards under the post can be replaced?

Also, what is the best material for the floor boards?  They need to be tongue and groove because the porch is over my basement and if I install it like a deck it will leak water.  Is it possible to cut a tongue and groove joint on Trex or Veranda or do they move too much to be installed without a gap? 

[attachthumb=#1]

[attachthumb=#2]

I'm a do-it-yourselfer, not a contractor or carpenter, so any extra advice would be appreciated.

Tom.

 

[nickao]

You can buy a decking that is tongue and groove that is not wood. I used it on my moms deck but forgot the name of it.

Its not hard to lift it only an inch. You can actually buy support posts from Home depot, place them under the supporting beams and then turn the screw on the bottom of the posts. Put the posts on some cement pavers or block of wood or something solid or the bottom post plates may just sink into the ground. You can easily lift the entire porch like this.

I lifted an entire house(3 story Victorian) 18" like this in a week with no hydraulics. So you can do an inch on a porch like that in about 2 hours or so. Lift i about 10/4" every 15 minutes or so. You can probably crank out an inch in 15 minutes,but it is not the best way to go if you want to assure no damage.

Nickao

 

[Kevin Johnson]

You can lift it with a jack like the previous poster said.  However, just because it is tounge and groove it will not necessarily be waterproof.  If I wanted to make it waterproof, I would consider putting down an EDPM membrane, sleepers and then the T&G.  When we put T&G down a few years ago on our porch, we used IPE.  It was already milled and I got it from Lumber Liquidators.

 

[nickao]

Kevin is correct. T and G will not stop the water. Slant the deck away from the house to help too. But for a totally dry under space Kevins method in the previous post is imperative. Actually, here if an interior type  room was underneath that would be required by code. If it is an outside porch then maybe you do not need it by code. I have seen local rules differ tremendously on that.

There is a system that uses plastic u shaped piece as the ceiling for the room underneath and they channel water that gets through the upper deck to gutters. It looks nicer than you would think.

And Ipe is my choice over a plastic any day for a deck surface!

Nickao

 

[tvgordon]

Thanks guys,

The original porch is T&G and I have not had a problem with water.  It is over an unfinished basement and, although I haven't measured it, has a decent slope to it.

I will check into lumber liquidators.  I was looking into the composite decking just because it's low maintenance, I don't have to repaint after a winter of scraping with a snowshovel.

Also, it's about 13' from the ground to the porch roof.  What can I safely use to support the screw post?  They are only about 7' to 8' tall aren't they?

Tom.

 

[nickao]

Those posts come from 2 feet to 12 feet high at home depot. All you need do is put a block down place the post on it and start spinning until it holds itself. Going up only 1 inch it is highly improbable the post would move or fly out. The pressure will hold it in place. I do not think you can get more than 3" to 4" of lift from a post though

Go measure what you have and then get the closet post size to it. I have not done this in 4 years so I do not know what
Home Depot still carries as far as sizes.

Another way is just to get a hydraulic jack under the post or even use a 4x4 or 6x 6 to on the jack to lift the deck. I actually switched to the hydraulic jacks after lifting a few houses and decks in the area because it is easier to finely adjust the height. I think you can get the small bullet shaped jacks for like 25.00 - 35.00.

Nick

 

[WarnerConstCo.]

The T&G used to be Tendura, out of buisness now.

I do bieleve that Azex is making it now along with a couple of other people.

4x4 and a bottle jack, keep it as straight as possible, nail a kicker on it too.

One can never be too safe.

 

[tvgordon]

The local building supply stocks pine, treated pine and Azek.  The Azek was about 5x as much as the pine.  I'd like to use it but can't afford it right now.

Tom.