Author Topic: Bowed 2 story front porch  (Read 1360 times)

rocko2527

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Bowed 2 story front porch
« on: July 14, 2016, 08:00:29 AM »
Anyone ever fix a porch that looks like this? Seems to me I would need to jack it up and replace the current columns?

ShoulderThingThatGoesUp

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Re: Bowed 2 story front porch
« Reply #1 on: July 14, 2016, 08:13:22 AM »
Yes, that's exactly what my front porch looked like a couple of years ago except it was only one side and one story. Hopefully it's simply that there's some rot in the aboveground columns and you can jack up the roof, put in new columns, and you're all set.

Fishindude

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Re: Bowed 2 story front porch
« Reply #2 on: July 14, 2016, 09:08:19 AM »
Common situation with old homes.  First off, don't get alarmed or concerned, because it took a long time to get that way, it's not likely to collapse overnight.

Those homes were built before treated lumber was available, and in all likelihood the bottoms of the wood pillars are slightly rotted and deteriorated causing the settlement.
Every situation is unique, but a pretty common fix is to temporarily jack up alongside the bad column, very neatly cut off the bottom deteriorated portion of the column, then install an appropriately thick column base to re-position things level.   I've seen both masonry and treated wood used in these situations.   Whatever you do, the columns need to be structurally anchored in place.

You could completely replace the columns also.