Siding damage from deck?

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mdnagel
Posts: 187
Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2011 12:39 am

I need to replace my entire rear door due to damage from a break-in (occurred prior to my ownership). I'd taken out a 2x2? support piece that was nailed underneath the threshold plate, to the siding: I believe this is from the original construction. This piece was pretty much rotted. At issue is the siding behind this piece had gotten saturated and is rotten as well. The complication is that there is a deck here, and the (free-standing) deck is up against the side of the home, against the banding(? or whatever you call the molding-like piece that spans the gap of the siding and skirting). I suspect that it's more of a wicking issue than splash, as the top of the deck appears to have been in contact with the bottom of this piece (see picture). As far as I can tell the deck isn't attached to the home.

I've waded through lots of postings but none seem to answer my questions, which are:

1) What kind of gap should there be between the deck and siding/home? (if gap, then no need for flashing, correct?)
2) Where should the height of the deck come to relative to the banding piece? (I think that it shouldn't be touching the side, and clearly not along the bottom of the threshold support piece!)
3) How can any gap be made to be less obvious (and less attractive for passage of stuff like dropped keys)?

I'm pretty sure that the deck isn't attached in any way. If that's the case then I'll look to pull it out and away for closer inspection (hopefully I can use the bucket loader on my tractor).

I just really only wanted to have a functional door...

NOTE: the front door's support piece under the threshold plate is also rotting, though, since it's facing south, tends to dry out (whereas the one at the rear- north side seems to never have been able to do so).
RearDeck (Small).JPG
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Greg
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Joined: Wed Feb 28, 2007 8:01 pm
Location: Weedsport, NY

..And the fun never ends!!!

First I think I would Move the deck away a few feet to give your self room to work and open things up to see what you are really up against. It is obvious that there is a rot issue, now you just need to see how big.

Up here I don't like to see decks the same level as the door due to the snow factor. If you get a foot of snow you have to use the door to push it out of the way just to get out. I like to drop it at least 6" making a small step up but also keeping any water/snow away from the door sills.

Greg
"If I can't fix it, I can screw it up so bad no one else can either."
mdnagel
Posts: 187
Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2011 12:39 am

Grr... took a closer look, the deck is screwed into the side of the home! I suspect, however, that it's not structural, that it's just to keep the deck from moving away from the home. I wasn't in the mood to take out the screws, but will look to do so in a few days (am working long hours right now, and my spare time is spent working on drainage issues on the property).

I took a look at the height of the front deck and found that it's below the banding. So much for consistency... I'd like to demolish both decks and replace them, but just not enough time and money.

I'll post pictures once I manage to dislodge the deck.
mdnagel
Posts: 187
Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2011 12:39 am

As is typical, things weren't as easy as hoped... Ended up having to cut the deck off, as I was unable to get the screws out (stupid torque screws). And, to pull the deck away from the home I used my tractor, which, to add more complication, needed to be jump started! All this because someone failed to do something right in the first place!

Crap! I suppose that it's only fitting that I an unable to upload an attachment! Attempting to upload produced this error message: Sorry, the board attachment quota has been reached. Sigh...

Moving on... any recommendations on how to proceed in removing the 2x6 that's screwed to the home? I can't get the screws to back out (heads strip out). I'd made a quick attempt to drill off the heads but gave up on that: pain when the rest of the deck was attached.
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Greg
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Posts: 5696
Joined: Wed Feb 28, 2007 8:01 pm
Location: Weedsport, NY

You could try a Grabit. They are a reamer/E-Z out, I have found they do work well if you go slow.
http://www.amazon.com/Alden-8530P-Grabi ... B000ETLK7O
(Lowes has them also)

Greg
"If I can't fix it, I can screw it up so bad no one else can either."
mdnagel
Posts: 187
Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2011 12:39 am

Thanks, Greg. The screws were a bit rusty and ended up breaking. Ended up auguring the wood above all the screws (drilling the heads out wasn't working) and pounded the board down, that and chiseling... One of those things that fights you to the bitter end... but, the board is off and I now have full access (see post below).
mdnagel
Posts: 187
Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2011 12:39 am

I've got all deck material removed: would post a picture, but unable to- "board attachment quota has been reached." There's about 1 foot of affected/rotted/soft siding material at the bottom corners under the door sill (extending up a bit on the right-hand side) . The size of the siding under the door sill is perhaps about 5 inches (not sure how much there is under the banding strip).

I think that the siding is T1-11. I've got some of this kicking around and can probably use.

Question #1: what is the "correct" way to remove this bad siding?

Question #2: what is the "correct" caulking (and technique) to use when replacing the siding?

Question #3: I'm going to replace the deck with something simple for now, but would like to tear out any organic material and put down some rock- other than putting down weed cloth/barrier (dig down a bit), is there anything that I should look to do here? (it's next to the home's concrete pad- I'd like to put down some french drains some day)

Thanks!
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flcruising
Posts: 606
Joined: Mon Dec 03, 2007 2:18 pm
Location: Florida Panhandle

Have you pulled off the siding yet? I would bet there is framing damage underneath as well. Sorry, not trying to dishearten you.

I replaced our cheap side door last month with a 2868 residential door, and thankfully our wood damage was superficial so only some of the sheathing needed replacing. But this was only from about 2 years worth of water damage. Your damage looks to be over a longer time period, so there may be some rim joist/framing needing replacing as well.

Did you intend on replacing the door jamb as well? Basically a prehung unit?
[color=blue]Aaron[/color]
mdnagel
Posts: 187
Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2011 12:39 am

Hi Aaron.

I'm kind of juggling things right now (building chicken brooders, clearing and cleaning land etc.) and waiting for the current rainfall to curtail before I yank off the brickmold and probe further.

I pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I'd be replacing the entire door and frame (pre-hung): the frame is broken out. Sigh, I'll probably have to do the same with the front door (much more substantial deck out front, but it's facing south, everything there dries up pretty much).

This coming Thursday I'll be taking off the brickmold and the banding strip and cut away some of the siding. I don't have a sawsall, though my dad does (will require a trip to fetch it), which I'm assuming would be the right tool to use to cut away the siding (don't really have that much that will require cutting, as most of the bad stuff is at the bottom edge).

Oh... can anyone recommend banding material? I think that's what you call the strip that covers the gap between the siding and the skirting. Both the siding and the skirting is T1-11, and the banding appears to be some sort of wood composite.
mdnagel
Posts: 187
Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2011 12:39 am

Removed the side brickmoldings (no issues with the top- will remove later) and cut out the bad sections of siding.

Good news: The problem area is fairly well constrained to just under the door.

Bad news: The rim joist(?) has water/rot damage. I can also see that the floor decking is wasted along the outer edge, though can't tell how far back this goes.

I was OK with replacing siding and the complete door and frame, but I don't think that I'd be able to take care of the rim joist (given enough time I suppose that I could, but I just don't have time for this added work). Can anyone tell me what sort of expense I could be looking at to have someone else deal with this?

Here's a link to pictures (seeing as this server won't accept any more attachments): http://www.flickr.com/photos/41764636@N ... 977638252/
1987Commodore
Posts: 383
Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2010 9:53 pm
Location: Steuben County, NY

When you build your new deck, make it free standing, about 6-7" below the door sill. Do not attach to the home. Could you use metal flashing below the door?
mdnagel
Posts: 187
Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2011 12:39 am

Yeah, I have every intention of doing things right: I bought this thing this way and am now just getting around to having time to deal with it (only have lived here 4 months now- priority was flooring and a water filtration system- I'm running out of bandwidth). I suppose that flashing would have helped, but much of the trouble was likely due to the fact that the deck was right up under the 2x2 sill plate and was wicking water off the deck and transferring it against the siding and inward.

Right now I need to know what someone (a professional) is likely to charge me to replace the section of rim joist that has been compromised. If I were to do things I would be sure to do a lot of research such that I did things right: as noted, I just don't have time to do that now (continuing theme with all that I'm juggling- trying to get a farm going and all).
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WildIrish
Posts: 144
Joined: Wed Jun 18, 2008 9:00 pm

You can upload an image by using an external image host. Try http://www.tinypic.com - you upload an image there, it will give you a URL that you can use on a forum. They give 2 versions, one of which will work on just about any forum. If not, just copy the direct URL (the one with no tags). Post them here, and people can just click on them to see the picture.

Oh, yeah--the image hosting is totally free, too. :)
[img]http://i30.tinypic.com/2v9p75c.gif[/img]
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