Front porch drainage, need advice
geoffhazel
| Posted in Construction Techniques on
I have a front porch that has a corner that traps water. It doesn’t get too deep but any water is bad water in my book. I have some pictures of the problem corner both inside and outside. I know the flooring boards do not extend under the wall. Also, in the first picture, the yellow/green stuff is pollen, not mold or algae. Anyway, what would be the best way to get the water to drain? I’ve thought of putting jack under the corner of the porch but don’t really like that idea much. I’m thinking if there were some way to drill a hole or slot throught the wall, but I can’t figure out how to flashi it properly so the water makes it all the way out and not drain into the structure.
Any advice is greatly appreciated,
Replies
Geoff, before you worry about draining the water you need to worry about damage underneath the level of the floor. In porch3.jpg it looks like the entire corner, column and all is sagging.
Take a look underneath and get back to us.
SamT
Edited 4/28/2003 4:25:04 PM ET by SamT
Sam, I see what you're getting at, and I think its a trick of perspective on the camera. I'll throw a level on it but it isn't anywhere near as bad as it looks in the picture.
OTOH, if it IS out perhaps a little jack action on that corner will solve two problems at once. I recently did some rot replacment work on that corner, so if anything, it's just a little settling and not rot.
Edited 4/28/2003 6:09:37 PM ET by GeoffH
Being level may be the problem...if that corner gets no breeze or no sun and no drain slope, it will take a very long time to dry out. This symptom you see now may be related to the cause of the rot you fixed.
Is the floor T&G? I don't have the pixs in front of me. If so, you can, from underneath, remove 6" of the bottom groove side and the toungue from 3 joints. this will allow drainage in the corner. At a time when the area is good and dry, spray waterseal on the bottom of the floor and pour it thru the drain slits. you may want to spray the area with fungicide first.
I hope it's minor.
SamT
Yes, the deck is T&G fir, laid on top of plywood. If I hear you right, you're advocating basically cutting some slits between the planks. I can't really do that from the bottom. I was kind of thinking if the floor was level and just dropped down in that one corner, I could drill some holes through the wall at the floor level and put some kind of flashing in to route the water out and past the edge of the wall somehow.
YOU are "johnny-on-the-spot", so do the hole-in-the-wall (but, watch out for train robbers. hehehe)
May I suggest: drill the holes at a slope, about 3/16" oversized, push higrade caulk thru hole till it comes out other end, push prepared SS brake line thru to outside. If walls are hollow over fill both sides. Use a large dia tube.
Prepare the brakeline by by cutting flared ends off, cut to 6" over length, plug out-side end with caulk, leaving a "point" on the caulk so it will spread the fresh caulk in the hole when you push the tube thru the wall. After the wall caulk has set cut the outside end of tubing plumb to desired length.
The theory I'm trying to describe is 1)seal the wood; 2)bond the tube to the walls 3) provides a corrosion proof route for water; 4) easy cleanout; 5) cost effective; 6)inconspicuous.
Anything you can do to meet the theory will work IMHO.
Let me know what happens, will you?
SamT
Thanks, it turned out that there was plenty of slope toward the front, but it needed about 1/2" from the outside toward the center, so I managed to jack it up the 1/2" and now there's a teeny bit of slope in the right direction, so it's all good now.
Thanks again for the help, one and all.