The Five Year Porch

No social life and little to no work during a time of pandemic may mean time for completing home projects, or at least the contemplation of completion. I have been fixing our front porch for the last five years; longer, really, as the posts and front staircase were tackled years before we moved in. A porch seems like such a simple object -a roof and a floor, yet there is always more to the structure than meets the eye.

The siding has been replaced on the roof sides, the entire porch jacked up and seated on new, treated posts now anchored to the concrete piers below. New joists added where needed, new joist hangers added where needed, new decking where needed, new staircases where needed (one done, one in process, one more to go), replacing or restoring, then repainting, porch railings and posts, repair, replace, and paint framed latticework underneath the porch, restore drainage at the perimeter of the porch, siding at the corners where it met the porch floor -and still there is more to do!

Consider all the new houses that have gone up since the Clinton decade, that accelerated during the Bush decade, and continued even through to the current period. Now in our second economic collapse in a dozen years, I think about the construction materials and methods that will not stand the test of time and will not at all stand the test of shrinking incomes. As with subsistence farming, our economy and culture have moved us away from understanding our material world and the skills to required repair it.

A new home creates an illusion of the perfect object. Our structure, 1995 vintage, was one of those not too long ago. The original owner's dream home decisions and the cost-cutting needed to make them a reality, as well as cost-saving new materials and some sloppy craftsmanship have led to problems that started to show around the twelfth year. Since we began visiting during the warm months, in 2007, we also began the dealing with exterior problems that shouldn't beset a dozen year old house.

Replacing doors after fifteen years is absurd, that is, unless these items are now considered disposable. And if they are considered disposable, it is an economy and culture which demands it. If the door begins to fail after a decade and shows obvious signs of needing replacement in year fifteen, that means there have been five years of water damage to the structure the door is placed into. These repairs become ever more costly given the construction materials used around doors which are not rated to stand up to the leaks inherent to a failing door.

Pulling back from this digression, I want cover a simple repair technique that allows water to drain from the bottom of a porch railing. In part two, I cover epoxy coatings, reassembly, paint, and some additional notes. The link to Part II is also at the bottom of this post. These methods and materials can be used on any non-structural wood repair, but are never a replacement for an understanding of what conditions lead to wood rot and the assembly required to avoid it over a longer period of time. The most important concept is that water should not stand on wood, painted or otherwise. All water must drain, and if it doesn't, wood will wick moisture, the microbiology of the earth will begin to consume the wood, and paint will soften and peel.

Older porch components are often, although not always, made out of western red cedar -a naturally warp and rot resistant (never rot proof) wood grown in western, coastal North America. This is a good choice of material, yet most porch railings are constructed by quick moving builders who will not take the extra time to make little adjustments that will allow rain, snow melt, and dew to drain properly.

The porch being repaired

The railing components, below, are about twenty years old, just about the amount of time I would expect above ground, western red cedar to last when not draining properly, particularly in the harsh environment of Minnesota. We see more extremes here than in most parts of the country, in terms of temperature and moisture. Wood shrinks a lot at twenty percent humidity and -30 degrees, and conversely, swells quite a bit at 90 degrees and 95% humidity. We can have years of 26 inches of rainfall, but also years with forty. This takes a toll on all outdoor woodwork.

The lower portion of a porch railing is where much of the decay can be found.

Wood placed against wood will hold moisture and eventually decay, even when painted. As I mentioned earlier, the rotting wood will undermine the surface coating leading you to notice the rot. Rotted wood is soft, sometimes crumbling, sometimes green with algae, and can even release moisture when pressed. This is likely to happen where spindles (the vertical pieces) meet the bottom rail, and more so at porch corners where they receive rain from two sides. The spindle's end grain wicks moisture up into the wood, creating a hospitable environment for fungal growth, which in turn rots the wood as it is consumed.

End of the porch bottom rail

Another prime spot for decay is the bottom rail, again, particularly at the porch corners. Rain easily gets into the corners since there is no overhang at the sides. Water running down the porch corner posts and spindles attached to it collects at the bottom rail. The bottom rail's end grain wicks moisture laterally and the spindle having also wicked moisture up into itself, holds it against the bottom rail. This double whammy will rot the bottom rail from the side and the top.

Accent rails and spindles at the top, south side of the porch

Top accents at the front of a porch do not rot as easily -they don't see as much rain, but side railings and accents get a lot more weather. On the south side of a porch these components see sun and rain while on the north side, these may never dry out for lack of sun. These two sets of conditions lead to rot! Although most are familiar with shady, damp conditions of the north side of a house leading to wood rot, people are often surprised to hear that a full day of sun can lead to decay as well. Sun degrades all materials in part due to the UV rays. There is a lot of interesting science around paint and pigments and how UV changes the paint over time. This is also true of wood. UV exhausted wood will often have raised ridges, certainly be gray, and will rot more easily in this condition in a wet environment.

Accent rails that have been repaired, primed, and are awaiting their new spindles

So, how to fix a porch railing components using the accent rails as an example? Read on. Note that the process for fixing the porch handrail is exactly the same, only with longer spindles, and the more expensive handrail component if it also needs replacement.

The first step, of course, is to take your accent rails down. They are typically installed with phillips head screws above and possibly finish nails or phillips screws into the porch posts. These should be fairly easy to remove, but sometimes the phillips head strips while attempting removal. If nails are used, or screw heads are stripped, or spin, but do not come out, you can use a pry bar -but this may do some damage. Its better to use a reciprocating saw with a metal blade or an oscillating tool like the one shown below.

Feintool Multimaster

The Feintool Multimaster is my home repair go to powertool. If you do any home repair, this tool is a must have. There are lower cost brands, of course, but the Feintool has been good despite my abuse of it. You can use the metal-cutting blade shown below to slice through soft nails and even hard screws. Be aware that the hard screws will wear your blades much faster than nails, often blowing through a blade with three or four screws cut. Note: avoid using phillips head screws, or square head drives -use star, or six-lobe, screws only for easier extraction in the future.

BiMetal Blade. You can use it on wood, but it is designed for soft metal cutting.

The only drawback to a Feintool Multimaster, or any oscillating tool, is the cost of blades. Buy them in bulk to save a few dollars, protect them in your kit, and use them wisely to save on wear and tear.

The lower portion of a porch railing is where much of the decay can be found.

Once you have the railings down you can take them apart. If they are really rotten, it will be easy to separate the spindles from the bottom rail -typically attached with 16-18 gauge brad nails applied with a pneumatic nail gun. Brad nails are soft and flexible and easily cut with the oscillating cutter if needed.  Note: the handrail bottom component will typically have screws driven from the underside which should extract fairly easily, but if not they will need cutting.

The top component of the upper accent rail is typically a 2x4 and is usually connected to the spindles with phillips head screws. These should be easily removed with a cordless drill and phillips bit. I do not expect the top board to need replacement as it sees the least rain. The bottom rail, a more expensive milled piece of cedar should be saved if it is not too far gone. I'll show you how to fix it, if shows rot, below.

Feintool Multimaster oscillating tool with sanding pad attachment.

I go to my Feintool Multimaster and sanding pad attachment to quickly remove loose paint on any railing pieces I plan to re-use. The sanding pads come in boxes of 50 in all grits. I use 60, 80, or 120 grit to remove paint on these pieces. These Velcro attached pads are relatively long lived, but their most valuable feature is the ability to rotate the pad to help with difficult corners. Avoid pressing too hard while sanding. It creates a lot of heat that will melt the plastic Velcro pad at the pressure point.

Basic spindles are cut lengths of 2x2 cedar. Typically these are surfaced, meaning smooth, and are actually 1.5x1.5 inches

I aim to replace all of the spindles, rotten or not. Why? Because the spindle is the lowest cost piece of the railing and, at only 6.5 inches or so, they allow me to get several spindles out of one piece of 2x2 western red cedar. You can buy 8 foot lengths of 2x2 cedar at your local box store or lumber yard, but it may be even easier to find cut western red cedar spindles of 36-42 inches in length. Lastly, the part of the repair that ensures a longer life railing requires another 1/4 of an inch in length. So, if your spindles are in good shape, and you do not mind shortening them, you can re-use as needed. Otherwise, I recommend purchasing a few new lengths of 2x2 western red cedar.

A word about choice of wood: you may be tempted to buy treated lumber for any or all aspects of your repair project. I firmly reject treated wood, typically pine, for porch railings. Why? It simply is not stable enough. Where I was asked to use it, it has twisted, pulled screws or nails, split and checked, and has molded on the surface where unpainted. Painting it is also a problem, often requiring an adequate drying time before a coating can be applied. In that time, the drying process has twisted or warped the wood. It's simply not good for this forward facing part of your home!

A simple, useful tool -the miter saw. You will not need a fancy one for this job.

You will need a miter saw for this repair, although it can be a non-electric miter box and saw for these small-sized, soft cedar cuts. What I am using here is a 10" Dewalt compound miter saw, generally a solid cutting tool. Your blade should be sharp and, if you cut slowly, a 40 tooth blade will work just fine.

The first task is to cut your spindles a wee bit longer than needed. If 6.5 inches is required, then cut each to 6.75 inches. This leaves room for your miter cut. This is important because it is this miter cut that will spare you the rot returning as quickly as it had the first time!

Make sure that your stop, a device that allows all cuts to be the same length, is square!

Now that you cut all your needed spindles to 6.75 inches it is time to make your final cuts. To ensure that all cuts are exactly the same length, we clamp what is called a stop to the back fence of the miter saw. This can be done on any type of power or hand miter saw. I've used a piece of 3/4 inch thick plywood that I checked for square (see picture above) and ensured that it is clamped flat to the miter saw fence and table.

Measuring accurately is important. -the blade tooth lands squarely on the 6.5 inch line.

Measure to ensure 6.5 inches from the stop to the right of the saw blade (or left, if you are working from the other side). After measuring, affix the stop with a C-clamp to hold the stop firmly in place -then measure again to make sure it didn't move. 

A combination dust mask and face shield.

Before making your cut, be safe. Wear safety glasses and a dust mask, or what I prefer -a full face  shield with lung protection. It offers better dust protection and full face projectile protection. The above is a 3M model with exchangeable filters for a variety of pollutants and a silicone seal that is remarkably comfortable given its level of protection. Honestly, I wish I bought one of these 20 years ago.

Note the subtle angle, about 4 degrees from square (square added to show angle -please remove!).

Now you are ready to move the miter position about 4 degrees away from the spindle (to the left in this example) and lock it in place (usually by turning the knob). Place the 6.75 inch spindle between the stop and the blade, holding it firmly with hand closer to the stop than the blade. Get the blade up to speed and pass it slowly through the cedar spindle. Hold the saw down while it slows to a stop. This will protect the wood from tear outs and splinters while protecting you. When you raise the saw blade you will see a slight angle on your spindle. 

This angle gives the spindle a length of 6.5 inches on one side and about 6.625 inches on the other. This little bit changes everything. An eighth of an inch over the spindles' 1.5 inch width is the same slope as a 1 inch drop over 12 inches of length also known as 1:12 pitch. It is the reason the bottom rail can now drain water instead of hold on to it!

So is that it? It could be. Attach your spindles to the rail and replace the component. Or you can take rot resistance to the next level. Read on in Part II, Epoxy Repair...

*Please note that the tools and products used in this post are the one's I use. I do not receive any paid or product support for the links provided.