Years of water leaks have damaged the front porch. In today's video we repair some rotted floor boards. SUPPORT US ON PATREON: www.patreon.com/1834restorationhouse
We put those gutter guards up about 15 years ago and ended up removing them several years later as they created more problems than fixed anything. We live in the woods and have many, many trees surrounding us. As a matter of fact you cannot see our lawn for the leaves after Hurricane Nicole swept through NC today. Just yank those screens out and let your gutters go a-la-natural (topless).
Our house had no gutters when we bought it. With the historic look of the tile roof in front, standard gutters would have looked horrible (the back of the house is flat roof with parapet walls; water flows one way, out through a big scupper and into a collector at the top of a large downspout.) We splurged on round copper seamless gutters/downspouts, which now have a nice patina. Screens don't fit, so hubby clears them out once a year. It will be time in a few weeks; right now the crows are still using them to store the pecans they collect from the trees on our street. When I hear 'knocking' up on the roof, it's crows smacking nuts on the roof tiles. When that doesn't work they drop them from the top of the phone pole onto the sidewalk, or in front of moving cars, lol. Whatever you plan, nature always has other ideas! :P
Jeanie, you’re just so cute! Love you in overalls - you rock them, where I’ve always just looked silly, like a kid playing dress up! And when you stomped hard in that board and sent Mike flying, you leaned over and asked, ever so sweetly, “Are you okay?” You out a smile in my face every episode! And Mike, you just constantly amaze me with the things you know and your willingness to pass your knowledge on. You’re very good at explaining things and you’ve mastered the art of being patient and taking the time to do any job properly. Really just still enjoying your channel after all this time.
Lucinda, we're so glad you came aboard way back in time! We always enjoy hearing from people that have learned a useful skill from the work we do here.
I would have ended up putting shims under the porch boards as it would have bugged me that the porch boards weren't the same level, even if it's just a temporary fix. Inspecting and cleaning gutters is something that should always be done at least once a year.
You can have gutters on your house but if they're not slanted properly or installed properly you can have like low spots that hold water because they're not draining the way they should. I just have basic plastic gutters I bought at Lowe's I could put on myself and plastic gutter screens that come in a roll that you can install yourself. My brother had a house moved to a lot out in the country and had to have the gutters put back on it. They were seamless and something like $1,500 or $1,500 a side it was way ridiculous for just the north and south of the house. Also when you clean out your gutters like you did I'm just saying from experience- no professional here- I sprayed water on the roof to watch it run down and also wash out the gutters and when you do that your downspouts can be clogged and you don't know it- I used to clean out a ladies downspouts and I was banging on the spout that went down - she said what are you doing - I go look at all that stuff coming out! Lol! No not hard - just enough to make vibration. I also have a barrel to save rainwater for indoor and outdoor plants just be careful of mosquitoes- they love to breed in standing water. So there you go homeowner 101. 😁
I think it's funny that the only paint you could find was Carhartt Brown but it did the job and like everyone says you got to get that done before the winter hits or else it would have been probably worse by spring and those gutters I guess you guys plan on replacing those okay they have what they call leaf gutters down here which is like a little green that covers them you might want to look into those all the debris just goes falling off the side of the house God bless you guys oh yeah and get a dog okay already LOL
Just finished weeks of sun up to sun down work on our porch rails ... I did the last bit of Abatron work yesterday. We had a lot of deferred maintenance on this old house but we will get there. I truly love your porch! All the great brackets... such a lovely home! Our last warm dry day was yesterday in Tn. I am happy to get back to my inside projects now !
I would have never thought of how you figured out to measure the joist underneath where you were working. Do you think you have to replace every piece of board on your porch, or will you salvage and sand them off and repaint or stain? What color do you think you will go with? Jeannie makes a great spotter, after all she stomped on that board and you went flying Mike.🤣
When we had our house painted a few years ago, we had to take all the old gutters down as they all leaked. He told me not to put them back, as in his experience, gutters just caused rot, eventually. So, we took his advice, only putting gutters over any entrances to the house. We are fortunate to live in a very rocky area, so our foundation is on very solid ground and we have excellent drainage in the yard. I know your situation is different.
I had 1/3 of my 1905 porch replaced-my maintenance guy used tongue and groove mahogany-very expensive...I like the end trim on your porch, I may get him to put some on next year, but I will have him use PVC, so it does not rot....
@@1834RestorationHouse -it is Cilantro green and white-I would really love green and rich cream, but I do not want to paint the aluminum caps on the side windows...
Hi Mike & Jeannie, I have followed your adventures from the start and have enjoyed watching your victories. I am sure it gives you great satisfaction to see the progress that you have made. I love old houses, especially Queen Ann Victorians. I look forward to your weekly videos! I am a certified/licensed home inspector and would love to give you some tips to help you and keep you safe. I was impressed to see you wear protective gear. Sometimes DIYers do not take those precautions and can be seriously hurt. Regarding the use of extension ladders, OSHA requires that an extension ladder be extended 3 rungs above the roof/gutter line. The use a bungee cord or some other tie-down should be used so the ladder doesn't slip away especially if you climb up on the roof. It was good to see your wife spotting you. You can also flip the feet of the ladder up so they dig into the ground which will give you more stability. On the gutters, remove the screens, and scoop out as much debris as you can. I usually bring a garden hose up with me to wash out all the particulate that has built up in the gutters for years. You can also fish the hose down the downspout to clean those out. Given the age of the house, I would imagine that your gutters and downspouts are made of galvanized steel. Check the joints for leaks, rust throughs, and bubbling paint on the exterior of the gutters and downspouts. Those leaf guards can keep the water from going into the gutter and will overflow the gutter. When this happens water will splash on the siding, porch, and the porch ceiling contributing to wood rot, water intrusion, and possibly structural damage. If not corrected, which you were showing in the video, this can be a costly repair. It is important where two surfaces meet-the roof and a side wall, a kickout flashing should be installed. If this is missing water will not be diverted into the gutter. Again, if not corrected you may find water intrusion in the crawlspace/basement which can lead to foundation/pier problems, mold, mildew, joist rot, and wood-destroying organisms reinfesting your beautiful home. Gutters need to be properly pitched toward the downspouts and downspout extensions should be used to move the water away from the house. It may be in your best interest to hire a professional gutter contractor to evaluate your home and propose repairs. As you stated in the video it is not good for water from an upper roof to run over a lower roof and then to the gutter. The volume of water will be too great for the lower gutter system to handle. This will also cause your roof to wear out prematurely. I applaud your hard work and making the videos so that all that follow you can be part of your loving restoration work. Best Wishes!!!
I'm so glad you started tackling that porch because it's the first thing you see walking up to the door. If you end up pulling up all those boards when you redo the porch, you should definalty use a metal detector under there. Have a great weekend! God bless and protect you both. Belle in AZ 🙂
Another great video! Glad Mike didn’t get hurt when that boar flew up! Jeanie looks so cute in her overalls and sneakers! Great job holding down the end of that board ! You could use a table saw and trim the whole thing to the correct width.
Fall is definitely the time of year for you all to get that outside house and yard work surveyed and completed if possible. It’s nice to not see my internet friends overheated & miserable in the extreme southern heat!🥵 Yep, the porch with it’s roof will need some work. Time to start saving your pennies! Hugs, Doc❤
Had an overflow in the gutter right at the front door. Found out it wasn't level. It had gotten bent down. Probably from hang Christmas lights. Definitely need to do small projects before the are big and expensive. Have a great weekend. ❤️🤍💙
Nice to have long arms, Mike. You are such a great handyman! I just paid 1500. for someone to take out a rotted board that was about the same size on my 1910 porch floor.
I was told by a roofer not to put screens on my gutters. As you saw you can’t clean under them, also the screens can clog and cause water to back up under the shingles causing rot. Best to remove them and hire someone to clean your gutters a couple times a year.
Great video!! I thought the screened gutters were the latest and greatest invention. Once again I have learned a lot!! We were thinking we needed to get new screened gutters but with your statement of not being able to get under the screens, I for one am glad we didn’t buy that kind of gutter system. We had the opening on the roof enlarged by an inch and in the Pacific Northwest it seems to have really helped.
Did you check to make sure your gutters were level? The screws could have lost their grip or the gutters could have gotten tipped forward, etc… Just wondering since you said there wasn’t any noticeable reason for the leaking.
you two work really hard on that place, thank you for working on saving it nails regularly go in the tongues in old porch like that, you probs know that gonna do porch deck first thing in spring? is it gonna be stained or painted? those screens over gutters - usually not good for gutters - quick rain will run right over it (it usually only goes into gutter when light, slow rain) and if get freezing rain, can get ice dam under shingles because ice freezes over the screen a gutter saver might be good idea for the ladder - then won't bend the gutter is the water getting behind the gutters? or dripping through the seams? dams are pretty good for gutter if put in correctly, a possible front dam could help fast overflow stop running over (if the rain runs that fast AND don't want a wider gutter) of course, don't expect you to answer, you're busy, and I don't mind
RUclips randomly chooses which ads to run, and we have no control over that. There is some water intrusion into the structure but I think it's due to the high velocity coming from the upper downspouts.
Question....could you have used a shim or a spacer under the repair deck pieces so they would be flush or level with the rest of the deck? Especially considering you can't see the edge because it's covered with trim on the exterior edge.
Had you split the old piece the long way it would have come out and left the tongue, then even if the new piece was thinner you could have shimmed it up considering it is a temporary fix, but you also could have used a router to make the tongue and grove or just went to a mil and found some. Not happy you showed the bad ways to do this...
It was a quick and dirty fix, not meant to be done correctly or permanent. The wood around it is too deteriorated to make a decent repair, and a redecking project is what it needs. Thanks for watching.
We put those gutter guards up about 15 years ago and ended up removing them several years later as they created more problems than fixed anything. We live in the woods and have many, many trees surrounding us. As a matter of fact you cannot see our lawn for the leaves after Hurricane Nicole swept through NC today. Just yank those screens out and let your gutters go a-la-natural (topless).
💯 %agree! More trouble than their worth.
You must be further to the west than I am. It’s still raining here at 8:20, but has slowed down and is about to stop.
I’ve heard that too about the screens. They just cause problems.
We also learned to remove those screens...
Our house had no gutters when we bought it. With the historic look of the tile roof in front, standard gutters would have looked horrible (the back of the house is flat roof with parapet walls; water flows one way, out through a big scupper and into a collector at the top of a large downspout.) We splurged on round copper seamless gutters/downspouts, which now have a nice patina. Screens don't fit, so hubby clears them out once a year. It will be time in a few weeks; right now the crows are still using them to store the pecans they collect from the trees on our street. When I hear 'knocking' up on the roof, it's crows smacking nuts on the roof tiles. When that doesn't work they drop them from the top of the phone pole onto the sidewalk, or in front of moving cars, lol. Whatever you plan, nature always has other ideas! :P
You should claim some of those pecans for yourselves! :-)
Jeanie, you’re just so cute! Love you in overalls - you rock them, where I’ve always just looked silly, like a kid playing dress up! And when you stomped hard in that board and sent Mike flying, you leaned over and asked, ever so sweetly, “Are you okay?” You out a smile in my face every episode!
And Mike, you just constantly amaze me with the things you know and your willingness to pass your knowledge on. You’re very good at explaining things and you’ve mastered the art of being patient and taking the time to do any job properly.
Really just still enjoying your channel after all this time.
Lucinda, we're so glad you came aboard way back in time! We always enjoy hearing from people that have learned a useful skill from the work we do here.
I would have ended up putting shims under the porch boards as it would have bugged me that the porch boards weren't the same level, even if it's just a temporary fix. Inspecting and cleaning gutters is something that should always be done at least once a year.
Well said.....Gutters can destroy a house real fast if they don't work right.
Just a thought - you should fill your garden beds with soil so it has time to settle before you plant in spring
Screens on gutters only prevent the owner from seeing what is actually in the gutter.
Every video you do I learn to do something. Thank you!
You can have gutters on your house but if they're not slanted properly or installed properly you can have like low spots that hold water because they're not draining the way they should. I just have basic plastic gutters I bought at Lowe's I could put on myself and plastic gutter screens that come in a roll that you can install yourself. My brother had a house moved to a lot out in the country and had to have the gutters put back on it. They were seamless and something like $1,500 or $1,500 a side it was way ridiculous for just the north and south of the house. Also when you clean out your gutters like you did I'm just saying from experience- no professional here- I sprayed water on the roof to watch it run down and also wash out the gutters and when you do that your downspouts can be clogged and you don't know it- I used to clean out a ladies downspouts and I was banging on the spout that went down - she said what are you doing - I go look at all that stuff coming out! Lol! No not hard - just enough to make vibration. I also have a barrel to save rainwater for indoor and outdoor plants just be careful of mosquitoes- they love to breed in standing water. So there you go homeowner 101. 😁
Enjoy the videos!
Thanks for watching!
Agree!
When you have a house, it's always good to have a long ladder.
So true!!
Y’all are bonafide southern country folks now with your carhartt, overalls and diesel truck! Love it! ❤ sending love from kings mountain,NC (
Hehehe! It's good to be Southern! 💖
Roofing shingles make good shims/spacers in apps like your porch boards.
I use brass washers as spacers to make it sit flush with the old boards and screws in case you need to remove it again.
Thank you for another informative video. You taught me something new.
I learn something new every episode!
I think it's funny that the only paint you could find was Carhartt Brown but it did the job and like everyone says you got to get that done before the winter hits or else it would have been probably worse by spring and those gutters I guess you guys plan on replacing those okay they have what they call leaf gutters down here which is like a little green that covers them you might want to look into those all the debris just goes falling off the side of the house God bless you guys oh yeah and get a dog okay already LOL
We're going to get the screens removed and try traditional gutter cleaning.
Just finished weeks of sun up to sun down work on our porch rails ... I did the last bit of Abatron work yesterday. We had a lot of deferred maintenance on this old house but we will get there. I truly love your porch! All the great brackets... such a lovely home! Our last warm dry day was yesterday in Tn. I am happy to get back to my inside projects now !
The great thing about seasons it that it makes us stop working on things when we need a break.
I would have never thought of how you figured out to measure the joist underneath where you were working. Do you think you have to replace every piece of board on your porch, or will you salvage and sand them off and repaint or stain? What color do you think you will go with? Jeannie makes a great spotter, after all she stomped on that board and you went flying Mike.🤣
Lol!
We don't know yet what the rest of the boards look like.
When we had our house painted a few years ago, we had to take all the old gutters down as they all leaked. He told me not to put them back, as in his experience, gutters just caused rot, eventually. So, we took his advice, only putting gutters over any entrances to the house. We are fortunate to live in a very rocky area, so our foundation is on very solid ground and we have excellent drainage in the yard.
I know your situation is different.
I had 1/3 of my 1905 porch replaced-my maintenance guy used tongue and groove mahogany-very expensive...I like the end trim on your porch, I may get him to put some on next year, but I will have him use PVC, so it does not rot....
A mahogany porch sounds really nice!
@@1834RestorationHouse -it is Cilantro green and white-I would really love green and rich cream, but I do not want to paint the aluminum caps on the side windows...
I love it when you show us how to do those little repairs and how to improvise when necessary.
I really admire both of you for your perseverance and restoring this beautiful house. 🤩
🤗
Hi Mike & Jeannie,
I have followed your adventures from the start and have enjoyed watching your victories. I am sure it gives you great satisfaction to see the progress that you have made. I love old houses, especially Queen Ann Victorians. I look forward to your weekly videos! I am a certified/licensed home inspector and would love to give you some tips to help you and keep you safe. I was impressed to see you wear protective gear. Sometimes DIYers do not take those precautions and can be seriously hurt. Regarding the use of extension ladders, OSHA requires that an extension ladder be extended 3 rungs above the roof/gutter line. The use a bungee cord or some other tie-down should be used so the ladder doesn't slip away especially if you climb up on the roof. It was good to see your wife spotting you. You can also flip the feet of the ladder up so they dig into the ground which will give you more stability.
On the gutters, remove the screens, and scoop out as much debris as you can. I usually bring a garden hose up with me to wash out all the particulate that has built up in the gutters for years. You can also fish the hose down the downspout to clean those out. Given the age of the house, I would imagine that your gutters and downspouts are made of galvanized steel. Check the joints for leaks, rust throughs, and bubbling paint on the exterior of the gutters and downspouts. Those leaf guards can keep the water from going into the gutter and will overflow the gutter. When this happens water will splash on the siding, porch, and the porch ceiling contributing to wood rot, water intrusion, and possibly structural damage. If not corrected, which you were showing in the video, this can be a costly repair. It is important where two surfaces meet-the roof and a side wall, a kickout flashing should be installed. If this is missing water will not be diverted into the gutter. Again, if not corrected you may find water intrusion in the crawlspace/basement which can lead to foundation/pier problems, mold, mildew, joist rot, and wood-destroying organisms reinfesting your beautiful home. Gutters need to be properly pitched toward the downspouts and downspout extensions should be used to move the water away from the house. It may be in your best interest to hire a professional gutter contractor to evaluate your home and propose repairs. As you stated in the video it is not good for water from an upper roof to run over a lower roof and then to the gutter. The volume of water will be too great for the lower gutter system to handle. This will also cause your roof to wear out prematurely. I applaud your hard work and making the videos so that all that follow you can be part of your loving restoration work. Best Wishes!!!
Michael, thank you for the excellent tips on ladder safety and good flashing techniques!
Hello, good folks! ♥️
Gee, Manly, I could listen to you explain things all day long! You would make an amazing Shop Teacher🎉
Take care you two☺️💕
Heheh! Funny you should say that......Stay tuned!
Glad you are painting the boards now; spring comes soon enough if you are going to paint the floor!
As always brilliant team work Mike and Jeanie.👍
I love watching your progress every week! You two are such hard workers! Your audience would love to meet your family!
I'm so glad you started tackling that porch because it's the first thing you see walking up to the door. If you end up pulling up all those boards when you redo the porch, you should definalty use a metal detector under there.
Have a great weekend! God bless and protect you both. Belle in AZ 🙂
Yes, the porch needs some attention for sure.
Another great video! Glad Mike didn’t get hurt when that boar flew up! Jeanie looks so cute in her overalls and sneakers! Great job holding down the end of that board ! You could use a table saw and trim the whole thing to the correct width.
That is.....if we had a table saw. ;-)
@@1834RestorationHouse LOL! Well now we know what to get you for Christmas!! 😅😇❤️
Fall is definitely the time of year for you all to get that outside house and yard work surveyed and completed if possible. It’s nice to not see my internet friends overheated & miserable in the extreme southern heat!🥵
Yep, the porch with it’s roof will need some work. Time to start saving your pennies! Hugs, Doc❤
There's never a shortage of work to do around here! {{{hugs}}}
Had an overflow in the gutter right at the front door. Found out it wasn't level. It had gotten bent down. Probably from hang Christmas lights. Definitely need to do small projects before the are big and expensive. Have a great weekend. ❤️🤍💙
"Oops" paint is great
Thank guys! Have a blessed day!
Nice to have long arms, Mike. You are such a great handyman! I just paid 1500. for someone to take out a rotted board that was about the same size on my 1910 porch floor.
Wow! I'm in the wrong business! ;-)
Surely they overcharged you? 😮
@@HouseWinchester1874 nope,replacedand paintedtheboardforthatprice.
You could look into using Rain Handelers, lovers that replace gutters.A bit pricy, but no gutter clogs!
Once a year you need to clean the gutter from leaves and stuff that is normal but you know that
:-)
I was told by a roofer not to put screens on my gutters. As you saw you can’t clean under them, also the screens can clog and cause water to back up under the shingles causing rot. Best to remove them and hire someone to clean your gutters a couple times a year.
I suspect that screens and such were created for people who don't want to clean gutters.
Great video!! I thought the screened gutters were the latest and greatest invention. Once again I have learned a lot!! We were thinking we needed to get new screened gutters but with your statement of not being able to get under the screens, I for one am glad we didn’t buy that kind of gutter system.
We had the opening on the roof enlarged by an inch and in the Pacific Northwest it seems to have really helped.
I agree with others and say remove the screens. You can see what’s going on and there is something very satisfying flushing them clean with a hose!
Yes!
Nice video guys. I certainly hope that porch doesn't turn into a can of worms.
We hope there aren't any worms either!
Any number of things could have easily shimmed up that board, including the off cuts.
I was just thinking the same
Did you check to make sure your gutters were level?
The screws could have lost their grip or the gutters could have gotten tipped forward, etc…
Just wondering since you said there wasn’t any noticeable reason for the leaking.
A wonderful video. I love your how to video today.
Glad you enjoyed it!
The brown reminds me of a keyboard!!
you two work really hard on that place, thank you for working on saving it
nails regularly go in the tongues in old porch like that, you probs know that
gonna do porch deck first thing in spring? is it gonna be stained or painted?
those screens over gutters - usually not good for gutters - quick rain will run right over it (it usually only goes into gutter when light, slow rain) and if get freezing rain, can get ice dam under shingles because ice freezes over the screen
a gutter saver might be good idea for the ladder - then won't bend the gutter
is the water getting behind the gutters? or dripping through the seams?
dams are pretty good for gutter if put in correctly, a possible front dam could help fast overflow stop running over (if the rain runs that fast AND don't want a wider gutter)
of course, don't expect you to answer, you're busy, and I don't mind
the exposition of the ending ad was unoriginal and meh imo
RUclips randomly chooses which ads to run, and we have no control over that. There is some water intrusion into the structure but I think it's due to the high velocity coming from the upper downspouts.
Could you not have added shims under those boards to maintain the same level as the rest of the deck?
Will you have to get all new gutters ?
We don't know yet.
WHAT IS THE BANDING THAT WENT ALONG THE EDGE OF THE BOARDS MADE OF AND DO YOU THINK IT'S ORIGINAL TO THE HOUSE? THANK YOU.
It's a thin strip of wood, probably installed to make the board ends look better (hide rot).
Question....could you have used a shim or a spacer under the repair deck pieces so they would be flush or level with the rest of the deck? Especially considering you can't see the edge because it's covered with trim on the exterior edge.
Yes, I could used a shim but we didn't have anything on hand and needed to get it closed up by nightfall to keep critters out.
If you were replacing floor boards inside. Would you take the same steps to replace them?
Yes, except I would be more careful with the cuts and making sure that the replacement lumber is perfect. The porch was a temporary fix.
Had you split the old piece the long way it would have come out and left the tongue, then even if the new piece was thinner you could have shimmed it up considering it is a temporary fix, but you also could have used a router to make the tongue and grove or just went to a mil and found some. Not happy you showed the bad ways to do this...
It was a quick and dirty fix, not meant to be done correctly or permanent. The wood around it is too deteriorated to make a decent repair, and a redecking project is what it needs. Thanks for watching.