Hi Everyone,
Been lurking here a long time (learned a lot), and finally decided to post a question of my own. I’ll try and give as much information as I can and hope that the good folks here can offer me some advice.
We’ve just moved into a new house. The previous owners have built a nice playhouse in the backyard, approx 10×10, cedar siding, cedar shakes with a 3 foot front porch. Construction seems sound, foundation is concrete pier blocks, walls and roof are in good shape.
Problem is that previous owners kids had grown up, so the building was used as a garden shed. The wet lawnmower was stored inside and the “drippings” have rotted a 3×5 foot section of the floor boards. Floor boards are not PT, they appear to be 1×6 spruce or pine. From what I can see through the hole in the floor, the joists appear to be OK.
I want to repair the floor so my kids can use the playhouse again, and am considering two options. First option would be to cut out the punky area only, and replace the floor with scrap lumber salvaged from pallets. The advantage of this option is that it is cheap and fast, but it’s not the kind of quality work I normally consider. However, it will get the job done.
The second option is to re-deck the entire playhouse with either 5/4 PT deck boards, or 1×6 cedar. I have a source that can get me good pricing on lumber rather than buying from HD, but it will still cost a few hundred bucks. I’d like to do the job right, but I’m unsure of the best way to replace a complete floor in an existing structure. The floor boards go right under the wall sill plate. Would I cut off the existing floor boards at the wall and sister in a new joist to nail the new floor to, or do I try to wiggle out the old floor boards one at a time from underneath the wall and push in a new board?
Your thoughts and opinions would be greatly appreciated.
Replies
Sistering the floor joist sounds a lot easier to me. I doubt it's even possible to pull the floorboards out from under the wall without jacking the whole structure up. That would seem like serious overkill for a playhouse.
If it were me, and remembering what I valued in my childhood, I would just nail a sheet of plywood over the hole. As a kid, I wouldn't have cared about an ugly fix like that. If your kids are old enough, give them the sheet of plywood and some nails to repair the hole in their playhouse. They would probably get a huge kick out of it. Or you can try to match the existing floorboards to make it look nice.
Forget about the pressure treated wood for the exposed floor. Kids will be playing in there.
You make a very good point there Dan about involving my kids in the repair process. My oldest son has a tool kit and loves banging nails into my scrap lumber pile. I'm sure he'd love to fix the playhouse with his dad.
Thanks for the great idea. I think I'll just cut out the rotten wood on the joist line, and we'll hammer in some pallet wood together to fix the floor.
You'll need to choose whether or not to replace the entire floor based on your needs and your assessment of the floor's needs.
If you intend to use it as a playhouse for children, then my opinion would be to do the entire floor. If it will continue as a garden shed, then you can patch and be fine.
If you intend to patch, you should cut the old boards so that the cut is above the middle of a joist. That way you can nail the end of the old board down, and the end of the new board -- both to the same joist.
If you intend to do the entire floor, don't try to pull out the boards from under the wall. It's way too much trouble and it won't work anyway. I would patch as described above, then add a complete layer inside the walls.
In either case, you should probably use treated lumber for everything.