The Culprit. Again.
In July, I posted about removing the fascia board on the main porch box beam to ascertain the location of a leak. Of note here are three vertical 2×6 boards to the right, and a single vertical 2×6 just to the left.
The three vertical 2x6s were a mess, and their north edges were rotted. You are looking at their south edges. They came out easily.
Under the boards is the bottom plate of the box beam. Oh. Dear. All this shows long-term rot from a water source.
But…drum roll, please…the 2×6 just to the left? It is pristine, as is the bottom plate. They look perfect. So, this offers a thrilling bit of news:
The rot to the columns (even more to the left) could NOT be from water traveling from the right side. This further confirms my belief that THAT issue is from a second leak…
…one coming from the part of the downspout hidden inside the big curved cornice.
The water damage to the right is, as far as I can tell, old damage. The wood, while powdery, was dry.
With the curved cornice pulled away, it was obvious that work had already been done in this area to the far right, as the built-in gutter had been replaced at some point. I now suspect that a failed gutter caused the water damage.
The bright silver is the bottom of the gutter. It is obviously new.
So, I have TWO leaks. One fixed. One to be fixed.
Ross is excited to finally have some answers.
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Yay! Halfway there!
Excellent detective work.
Just goes to show, just because you fixed one leak doesn’t mean there wasn’t another one.
Such is the life in an old house.
While you’re in there, have you confirmed the gutter between the punky downspout and the wall is sloped correctly?
Cross House got so lucky when you came along to save her
I’m with Chris on the guttering. With gutters, so much of everything depends on slope.💧
Slippery slope.