Tony H wrote:
I hope someone can provide some guidance. I went to decorate my porch
and found one of the wooden posts is rotten at the bottom. I have
scraped out the rotten wood and I am now unsure what to do.

My options are fill the large hole (not sure what to use (Ronseal
hardner and then wood filler? Is expander foam worth using?) or
replace the wood. Thus far I have been unable to find a post the same
design so replacing is a challenge.

Although I still think replacement would be better, further thought leads
me to the conclusion that you could adequately fix it yourself fairly
simply.

1. Temporarily support the porch corner with a 2x4 and wedges.

2. Clean out the rotted area more; particularly, try to get a horizontal and
flat part at the top of the cavity. Get rid of ALL soft wood.

3. Get a piece of appropriately sized pressure treated wood; it looks as if
4x4 would be about right.

a. The concrete appears to have a slot for a tongue on the wood to hold
it in place. Make a tongue on your wood piece to fit. The wood needs to be
long enough to make the tongue - it can be only 1" or so - and short enough
so you can get it in leaving maybe 1-2 inches between its top and the flat
area made in #2.

b. Get a galvanized 1/2" carriage bolt about 2 1/2" long. Get a
galvanized fender washer at least 2" in diameter, larger is better, size of
hole is immaterial. Go to a metal working place and get a piece of 1/4"
mild steel the size of the wood top or slightly smaller.

c. Drill a hole in the center top of the new piece to accommodate the
1/2" bolt (9/16 or 5/8 would be fine). Thread the hole in the steel plate
to accomodate the carriage bolt. Also drill a couple of holes so you can
nail or screw the plate to the wood; do so. Thread the carriage bolt all
the way into the hole.

4. Place the new piece of wood where it should go. I suggest you put a 1/4"
rope of plumber's putty all around the base and pack the mortice in the
concrete with the same.

5. Put the washer on top of the bolt head and turn the bolt up as needed.
Use a wrench, not just fingers. As you tighten, the putty will squeeze out;
scrape off the excess when all is tight. (BTW, the purpose of the washer is
to spread the load over an area wider than just the rounded head of the
bolt).

You now have a new support for the porch roof and you can remove the
temporary one. Next task is to make things pretty. For that, I would use
Bondo. Bondo is a trade name for an automobile filler. Its purpose is to
fill areas. It consists of polyester resin and powdered talc. It can be
obtained at any auto parts store and comes with a tube of "cream hardener"
which is a catalyst. The actual catalyst is methyl ethyl ketone peroxide
which is a clear liquid; to aid in measuring catalyst, cream hardener
includes some inert material; it also has a coloring agent as a visual aid
when mixing with the Bondo. I would guess that you'll need about a quart of
Bondo.

Bondo stays in a paste form until the catalyst is added. How fast it
hardens depends upon how much catalyst is used; for a golf ball sized piece
of Bondo, I usually use about 1/4" of cream hardener; that gives me maybe 10
minutes of working time. It is important that the hardener be VERY
thoroughly mixed with the Bondo and that the tube of cream hardener be
"massaged" to mix the materials before squeezing it out. It is also
important not to dig out more Bondo with something you have used to mix as
you may well set off the whole can.

As Bondo sets up it first turns to a gel; it then gradually gets harder and
harder over the next 20-30 minutes. At some point (past the gel stage)
there is a sweet spot when it is easily trimmed with a chisel. Once it is
totally hard, forget a chisel, coarse sandpaper is what's needed. Also
handy is a Surform plane; that's a plane with a sole that looks like a
cheese grater.

Although a thick paste, Bondo won't stand up; i.e., it slumps which means
you can't just pack the entire cavity in one go, gotta do it in stages
working from the center up and out. You can use pieces of plywood covered
with polyethylene plastic (like Visqueen) to make forms; you can also use
masking tape. Remove tape after it gels, forms after it is harder.

It should be very easy to rebuild the shape of the square portion of the bad
post; the rounded portion won't be much more difficult...wipe Bondo on with
a putty knife, trim with a chisel, repeat until all is slightly oversize
then sand, prime and paint. Be sure to clean out the rounded part more than
you have...you want solid wood and not a bunch of loose fibers.

The side rail will have to be angle screwed or nailed to the new wood.

Someone may come along and say, "No, don't use Bondo, use thickened epoxy".
That would work too but it takes at least a day to set up well. It is
stronger than Bondo but you don't need strength...all you need to do is
fill. If this were my porch post I wouldn't hesitate to fix it exactly how
I have said.

--

dadiOH
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