Repair damaged cantilever supports?

The entire South face of my house is 2 stories of decking. The upper deck is supported by numerous cantilevered 2x12s. 20 years on and there is alot of rot and some termite damage that I need to repair. (The builder did not paint the ends of and of the wood, nor did he paint the tops and bottoms of the doors..if only I knew then what I know now!). I had rebuilt the bottom deck with Trex several years ago.

So, I am replacing the rotten railing, decking, etc. (about 20% is bad) and there are some 2x12 supports that are damaged. Where the rot was at the top edge I had cut out the rot and patched it with a fresh piece of lumber cut to fit and screwed in.

There are some with the rot on the bottom edge and on the ends. How should I "make it right" after excising the bad wood?

TIA,

Joe

Reply to
Joe S
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Now you're asking? Those pieces where you cut out the top edge and screwed in another piece could be seriously weakened. From the sound of it you've now given the water a nice place to sleep in an out of the way place. Expect more rot.

Post some pictures on one of those free hosting sites and let's see what we're up against.

R
Reply to
RicodJour

I shall post some links to photos as soon as I can manage. Thanks.

I'm not sure what I wrote that would make you think that my work would make anything more susceptible to infestation. I can guarantee is that nothing I did weakened anything any more than it already was.

I replaced sponge wood with solid wood so that the deck screws would have something to bite into, thoroughly painting all exposed surfaces. I'm not saying I made the overall structure any stronger, but no worse, for certain.

And I do expect more rot...at any spot at all on the deck. It's not feasible to rip it all down and rebuild it, and the potential for rot remains throughout the 80% that currently shows no signs of damage.

C'est la guerre....

Joe

Reply to
Joe S

Here are a couple of examples of the rot. The end of the 2x12's are about 10 ft out from the house.

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Here's a patched one from several years ago:
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Looking for advice on how to address rot1 and rot2 for both structural purpose, and to make the repair unscary/easily explainable to a buyer when the time comes.

Joe

Reply to
Joe S

Take the afflicted joists out, one at a time, with a sledgehammer. Put in replacement joists, one at a time, with a 5 pound mallet and a couple post jacks.

Reply to
Goedjn

I don't know whether you didn't understand the situation, or I don't understand your advice, or you're just being unhelpful. I hope it's one of the first two. If it is, could you please explain your advice further in a little more detail as what you've written doesn't seem at all feasible. To wit, I don't see the point of a sledgehammer or mallet at any point in this operation.

Joe

Reply to
Joe S

You get the joist off the underside of the deck by cutting through it at each end, just far enough in to clear the end nails, if any, and then whacking sideways on it with a BFR. (If the decking is screwed on, pull the screws first. If it's nailed on, don't. If the nails are spiral-shank, grind the heads off first. Depending on whether the joists at either end or in the middle are riding on a beam or just socketed into joist hangers, you will probably also have to use a BFR to hammer the new joist into place, which you do by sliding the joist in flat, rolling it upright, and pounding near the upper edge when it jams. Once it's upright, more pounding allows you to shift it back and forth so it lines up where the old one was, which means you can use the old nail/screw holes.

Use dry lumber, and paint it before putting it in place.

*BFR = Big Fucking Rock.
Reply to
Goedjn

Thank you for the additional detail.

The 2x12s shown are cantilevered, extending I-don't-know-how-far internally between my 1st and second floor. I believe that undertaking such an operation as you suggest would greatly alter the engineering of the structure.

Joe

Reply to
Joe S

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