Who do I contact? Should I have another independent contractor come look…? At this point the decking is off and everything is exposed, so I don’t know.
Still no word back from my agent.
When did you buy in 2022? there’s usually a statutory 1 year warranty on things like the home inspection… Definitely look at the terms, and maybe lawyer up.
Guess I had a good home inspector last time I bought a house. He itemized what was wrong along with approximate costs to fix, but also anticipated problems five and ten years down the line. And he was right.
Perhaps the biggest compliment I’ve received was when the home inspector for the buyer of our last home (which I built) said he’d like to buy it… Definitely gave me a warm fuzzy.
I agree it’s a complete rebuild.
I’d look into regrading before building a new deck. It looks like a lot of dirt has washed under the deck.
You need to slope the ground so it drains away from the house. I’d consider applying a layer of SB2 as a base under the deck.
Find a Subcontractor with a bobcat. Shouldn’t take more than a couple hours. Ask them if its worth the cost of Sb2. It’s a landscaping gravel that packs and prevents erosion.
Link SB2 Commercial Base Gravel | Leading Edge Landscaping And Supply
I’m sorry your inspector and RE agent didn’t pick up on that and pursue corrective action, you’re a first time home buyer who hired the experts to guide your purchase. At least your agent isn’t ghosting you at this point and unless there is a warranty involved somewhere you may be on your own getting a responsible party to fix it. Is this new construction in Texas?
To the OP…sorry about that nail in foot, head side up? ouch…
Was this a remodeled home?
I get the sense that someone wanted a quick flip and just did a permitless porch and overhang.
Right on the ground? Thats just crazy. It started rotting as soon as it was finished.
Its good you found out before the overhead portion failed.
I looked at the photos again. The new deck will continue to rot unless it’s raised off the ground.
Regrading will get clearance under the deck and divert water off the house foundation. A good landscaper can take care of it.
That doesn’t look like an option. You have to have sloping grade to re-grade, or height at the door to raise the deck. Treated wood could be ok (it is rated for ground contact after all), and guttering would really help. Hardscaping–pavers, concrete or stone obviates the problem, obviously. It may not fit the aesthetic so well…
I thought the yard was sloping towards the house. There’s not much that can be done if its level.
Pressure treated on pavers may work the best.
Definitely an advantage to hardscaping–pavers are 2-3" thick, concrete would be 4", so you could raise grade at the house a few inches and get drainage.
Stamped concrete offers a lot of colors and patterns. It’s more expensive than a plain slab.
Google lists many examples.
The home was built to above average standards in 1987. It’s not SUPER PREMIUM but it’s not cookiecutter either. I suspect I’m dealing with the OG porch.
As said above, 1987 construction, no remodel to the exterior other than painting, I think this is the original porch, failing.
Nail in foot: I’ll be ok, dTap shot and debris cleaned out of the HEAD SIZED HOLE.
Mom had a TIA (mini stroke) so I’ve been two days in the hospital with her, so that was a big side-track.
Home happy and well, she’ll bounce back.
THE PORCH:
I have been in touch with a neighbor who has the exact same construction and same failings. Since these houses have an aesthetic covenant, the construction method and age repeat for a few house. And luckily we’re all pretty friendly.
They had the exact same problem–the ledger that support the deck of the porch was power-nailed to the concrete foundation against the house, then the deck sloped down to joists-on-grade.
Failure of the same exact nature: his porch “dipped” down towards the house at the threshold.
His solution was reattaching to the foundation and putting down pavers.
When I have the mental bandwidth, I’m going to look at his house and have him look at mine.
I FEEL LIKE THERE’S AT LEAST SOME LIABILITY WITH THE INSPECTORS because our porch was NOT attached TO THE HOUSE at the foundation, and was spongy and springy and you can visibly see the threshold is 1 inch above the level of the porch. Stepping in, you can feel the porch “give” like it’s spongy.
Visible confirmation of rot due to blocked boards is one thing, the F’ing whole-ass porch coming UN-NAILED FROM THE HOUSE–seems like it should have been noted.
My agent is not and would never ghost me but she DID just elope so I’m going to give all involved parties a little respite before I hit this again in earnest. Kinda sucks having a torn up porch but we gotta do this the right way.
Thank you all.
I’ve been trying to get new vinyl decking put on our deck now for two years. I keep calling people who promise to come out then ghost us. Last year I finally got someone to agree to do the work, but summer went on and they kept saying they were too busy, but would get to it first thing in spring.
So first thing in spring I called them, and they said they would send someone out to estimate. It took a month. Then they said they’d get back to me with a price. They never did. When I called finally, they told me that due to ‘unanticipated things’ I should call a general contractor first and have them fix everything.
I asked them what needed fixing, and they couldn’t tell me. The estimator never mentioned anything while he was here. Eventually they admitted that they overbooked, and were dropping our job because it was too big and they couldn’t fit it in. The assholes tried to send me to a contractor, who would have cost us lots of money then just subcontracted to a decking place anyway, because they didn’t want to admit that they strung me along for a year then gave up our booking to someone else…
Our deck is very straightforward. The bones are fine, the pilings are fine, the railings are fine, it just needs new vinyl surfacing and probably some plywood decking underneath removed for some rot. And yet, we can’t get anyone to do it, and the deck structure is just going to get worse with time.
I HAVE A GIANT UPDATE~~~~~
I’ll try to be succinct since I’m such a wordy little dork.
Spoke with our agent and our inspectors, both were kind and let me run through my little “push-back” Karen deal. The inspector noted the broken threshold and when I pushed back that “yeah it was broken because the PORCH was SUNK IN TO THE MUD beneath it,” he brought up a lot of “indicators” he noted in the report, but also that the porch was Band-Aid’d up in a way so that trellis blocked rotten wood, and couldn’t be removed for inspection.
The disconnect is that none of these “problems” registered on our agent’s radar, so the list of “broken things that really really need attention before you buy this house” never included anything about porch rot or “indicators or further problems.”
So we’re flatly on our own, a 253 square foot porch total-replacement 1 year into home ownership.
<>
I finally found/made time to tear off a major area of decking, including all round the rotten porch post.
The more I dug, the angrier I got, until it became comical.
Here is a structural timber with a fascia put over–this was to prevent “visible inspection.” The rotten wood was the structural part–the rest was all face board.
I thought the problem was the ledgerboard came unstuck from the concrete house foundation, causing the entire structure of the porch to sink down into the mud.
HOWEVER, the ledger board was NEVER ATTACHED TO THE HOUSE. That back joist/board just floated freely close to the concrete foundation.
The joists always sat in the mud. There’s some 4x4 “deck footings” kinda, and some bricks here and there, but it ALWAYS sat on grade.
This is where it became comical: they put down some 1x1 “risers” to get things feeling more “level,” but at that point, you’d need a handyman who was somewhat sinister to fake-fix shit. Just real fix it, bud!
They put up trellis to cover and visibly obfuscate rot. The trellis became STRUCTURAL as the entire porch sank deeper into the earth.
I have isolated the worse post that was making the roofline sag.
"There’s your problem," I pointed. After clearing around it for a new footing, I found some thin, broken pavers and bricks that had been sunk deep into the mud, as if they were to ever stand a chance.
I got supplies–beams, pavers, and a THICK concrete cap stone to use as an extra-thick footer, leveled the ground, and used a car jack to push the roof line up enough to tear out the rotten post, then sat the porch roof gently down on a temp pillar off-center of the natural column’s position, so it’s solid while I make some decisions.
Obviously I’m tearing out all the wood joists and decking. Very little is salvageable.
I’d like to pour a concrete pad, if I had my druthers. But the front door is 11 inches off the ground, so pouring the entire porch up to height would require, by my calculations, 13 cubic yards, or 900 bags, or $4000 worth.
Next option would be to level the ground, pour in gravel as a substrate to abate moisture, put down hardcore pavers OR pour concrete feet (I CAN DO THIS MYSELF, I’ve poured a lot of concrete) at the column footers, hammer drill a new ledger board above grade at the top of the foundation, and rebuild the decking where everything’s above the grade, PLUS WITH THE GRAVEL INSTEAD OF MUD.
Or—??
I’m getting close to making a decision.
What pressure concrete would I need? I know my cubic yardage, but I don’t know what pressure I need. When I do, I can get an estimate to have a truck dump.
I’m afraid beyond a thin patio-style pad, concrete is cost-prohibitive due to the depth needed to bring the porch up to the front door (at least 11 inches of concrete above the ground level, so what–15" thick??).
What do you all think???
BUDGET is fixed, and thin. This was not expected.
Other than pouring concrete from a truck if we can find a solution that’s >$2000, I’ll be doing all the labor myself.
I considered making an “edge foundation” out of cinderblocks, bricks, or pavers to give the outside edge of the porch a “foundation,” but now I"m thinking just pour footers for each post, then build the joist so it’s above grade and the “grade” is rock or gravel with flower beds in front of that.
Well, you can bring the grade up with pea gravel–doesn’t really need to be compacted. That’s more like $10/yd or so. Other than that no eye deer… Not sure why you are not leaning on the agent and inspector unless the red flags were waving? Want to post the inspection report?
I’ve done lots of concrete bag work, but not much ordering of commercial loads. A little googling says delivered concrete is much cheaper than buying bags — not to mention faster and easier.
Sample cost from Angie’s:
“Concrete prices average between $110 and $150 per cubic yard. For most sizable projects, you’ll need to order concrete by the cubic yard. However, for some smaller projects, you may be able to order concrete by the cubic foot.
You can also order concrete by the truckload. A truckload contains about 10 cubic yards of material, though that amount may vary between companies. The average truckload of concrete costs $1,100 to $1,440.”
“Wood on grade” was mentioned, and since the porch didn’t FALL onto the grade as I thought, technically they didn’t miss it.
I spoke to them to my fullest content, they are offering to help with contractors and any advice I need, but I have been pretty satisfied that I have no recourse in that regard.
I feel like I didn’t pursue the issue because I simply didn’t now any better, and now I’m left in this situation of my own circumstances.
What size are the current joists? 2x8? You could use 2x6 joists to give yourself a bit of separation between the framing and the ground. You just have to get the joist spacing and span correct. You’ll need more footings when using 2x6 framing than when using 2x8 framing but getting the framing off the ground is probably worth it.
Download a copy of the Prescriptive Residential Wood Deck Construction Guide from the American Wood Council (which you should be consulting anyway since you’re building a deck). It has tables that tell you the joist spacing and allowable span for the various sizes of framing lumber, plus pretty much everything else you need to know to build a deck correctly.