Four Common Problems with Porches and How to Treat Them

It seems like porches are either ten times larger than they used to be or have disappeared from the scene entirely. If you've got a porch, you know how wonderfully useful it can be for wasting a lazy Sunday afternoon when the weather is perfect outside. If you've got a porch, you may also be aware of just much trouble it can be to keep it in good shape. The older the porch, the more likely you are to experience frequent problems. The good news is that most problems you will deal with regarding your porch are those that have been faced by generations before you. Thank God, they did all the hard work so they could provide you with some quick and easy answers to the most common problems facing porch owners.

Dirty Porch Material

Porches get dirty. Get used to it. The cause of dirty porch surfaces is almost entirely related to the vagaries of weather, kids and polluted air. The best thing you can do is take a proactive approach to the dirtying up of your porch by using good old fashioned water and soap to attack stains as soon as they appear. Once the stains have gone past that stage, get out the sandpaper to repair more unsightly areas. A large porch surface where traffic of feet means an ugly pathway means heading to the store and renting a drum sander to make the work of sanding off the ugliness go more quickly.

Sagging Porch

The porch that sags can be caused by a variety of problems. First look for damage to the joists and reinforce as needed. If the joist is fine, inspect the piers, footing, beams and header for damage and repair as needed to make them stronger and more supportive again. Get to know your ledger when you've got a porch or a deck because the ledger's strength is vastly important to maintaining a long life for the entire structure. Depending on the extent of the damage to your ledger, you may need only some slight reinforcement or you may find yourself in the realm of significant repair.

Wobbly Columns

No matter what your grandfather may try to tell you, a porch should not wobble at its columns. That wobbly effect is only going to worsen and one day you may see the whole porch collapse. That would be unfortunate not just for the obvious reason, but because it may only have taken something as simple as replacing the fasteners on the column to fix your problem. The first step is inspecting the header fasteners to ensure they are tight. Next look for damage done to your beams or footings. Replace wood piers and repair brick piers as necessary to deal with significantly wobbly columns. When the column itself gets damaged, the result can be a slow buildup of wobbly uncertainty, Sometimes the repair is as simple as pulling out rusty nails and replacing weak molding. Sometimes damaged porch columns will require completely replacement.

Splitting Handrail

Once the handrail on porch begins to split, it is only a matter of time before the problem spreads and becomes a saga. Don't let this porch deterioration issue become a saga. Engage in the act of regularly inspecting the state of your handrails long before they reach this point. Many times a cracked handrail on the porch is the result of insect infestation. It takes insects some serious time and effort to get a handrail to the state where cracking and splitting results so get to know the signs of insect infestation and put a stop to it before it gets out of control. Another cause of splitting handrails is the effect of weather making the wood expand and shrink over a long period of time. As soon as you begin to notice this effect, make plans to replace your baluster if the problem cannot be solved with some simple repairs.