Porch Repairs

Brooks built our porch in 2016 so it has hit ten years old. There has been a problem with the main support posts sinking into the ground with the two outside ones having sunk about four inches and it was becoming very noticeable. I called a local contractor and he gave me an estimate of $7,000 if all went well and more if the posts or footings had to be replaced or if (horrors) he had to dig down to hard-pan which could double it. I called Brooks and he knew he could do it for a lot less so he organized a trip up with one of his employees.

They arrived at noon on Friday after a three hour drive and started right in. They used a laser level to see exactly how bad it was and then started digging down to the footings to see what was going on. There were two possibilities, 1) the footings were sinking into the soft, damp soil or 2) the footings were stable but the wood posts were rotting off at the bottom and giving way to the considerable weight of the structure. The latter proved to be the case which was actually the best case scenario as long as the rot did not extend too far up (which it didn't).

 They dug around all three footings and used jacks to raise the porch to an inch above level. They then cut the bottom foot off all the posts, poured quick setting concrete into each hole to raise, enlarge and reinforce the old footings and temporally supported the porch to let the concrete set overnight. It was about 7:00 PM when they quit for the night.

I fed them a dinner of Greek Salad and authentic Mexican Red Snapper Veracruzana from a recipe I found and modified to most closely match the delicious version we ate several times in the beautiful Mexican Gulf city of Veracruz. We washed it down with a nice bottle of Merlot. After dinner the three of us sat at the kitchen table and Brooks and I shared many old stories of his mother, something we have never previously been able to do. We covered old serious and humorous stories of her Union and Political organizing days as well as our Mexico travel adventures all fuelled with a 1/2 bottle of very nice Single Malt scotch, a very thoughtful Christmas gift from Penny's son Mike and daughter in law, Erynn. There are a thousand stories yet to cover but they will wait for another time. It was an amazing evening in so many ways! We were all tired and went to bed long before midnight.

Brooks and Kevin were up at 7:00 AM, shooting levels and making sure everything was still good. They placed piers on top of the footings to keep the wood well away from the ground and lowered the deck. One post had to be shimmed a tiny bit but the deck is now within 1/8 of an inch from level. Perfect. Probably good for as long as I will be. They stopped for a breakfast of poached eggs, potatoes and toast and were gone by noon.

The top photo was taken when it was new, the rest are of the current repairs.