Tom wrote:
I've got a front porch with one soft step from water damage. I want to quickly
put down a layer of plywood temporarily so it can be walked on without caving,
until I get the chance to completely redo the whole steps. What kind of screws
should I use? Or would maybe 12p coated sinkers be okay for the short term?

Nothing more permanent than a temporary repair. Don't make it too
pretty, or you will find reasons to put off the rebuild till the snow
flies. Plywood is the wrong material, BTW- narrow strips break easily
when they get wet a few times. Use a couple pieces of 2x4 or 2x6, or
even 5/4 deck boards. For a truly temporary repair, I'd just use
flooring/siding nails of an appropriate length- no point in making the
demo any harder than it has to be.

If you don't feel like relearning how to lay out stringers, the Borg
deck aisle has a nice selection of precut stringers and treads that make
the rebuild job painless. BTW, measure the height and depth of each step
before you screw it all together - they make some assumptions about how
it will be installed that may not apply in your case, and you may need
to clip 1.5" off one face, or add a sleeper at the bottom. DAMHIKT.

--
aem sends...