Reinforce

Time to fix the dangerous, falling down roof.

Step 1 - demo fascia, gutters, trim, etc.  Of course we like to time the gutter removal for a day or so before a big rain storm.

Step 2: Repair some slate tiles that had come loose over time so that we have a solid foundation to put the new posts on.  Definitely a project you should wait to do until after the kids are in bed and it is pitch dark so you can't see anything while you're rushing around before the concrete sets.

Step 3: Support the porch temporarily so it didn't crash down on us when we were working.  You'll notice I'll use the word "we" generously throughout.  This was all Sean.  Seriously this guy is amazing.  Mama says she wants a gable and Mama gets a gable.

After we (see?) pulled down the ceiling we noticed that hollow block was used for the section hidden in the pitched roof section.  This created a lot of head scratching trying to figure out how to secure a ledger board into a hollow surface.  I went to Home Depot and bought every option they had.  Our credit card ended up getting flagged for unusual activity.  $1,500 in anchors and bolts is not unusual activity for us.  That is called Saturday.

We ended up using a combination of epoxy anchors and thru bolts.  I had never heard of epoxy anchors but they're pretty cool.  Basically you can inject epoxy into the a mesh screen and then screw your anchor into the epoxy and it holds as if you drilled directly into concrete.  Not cheap but it works.  We alternated every 16" with this method and thru bolts.  Thru bolts bolt through the block and connect with a nut on the other side.  How do you attach the nut when you've got walls on the other side?  Lots and lots of holes in the drywall.  I see spackling in my future.

Look how pretty and secure those new ledger boards and headers look.  I'll get into some more detail on the posts later but don't they look nice and strong?

I no longer feel the desire to run across the porch quickly when I walk about my front door.  Always a good thing.