The Culprit?
I’ve posted about the water issue inside the main beam holding up the west porch. Somehow, water is getting in, draining down through a hollow wood column (rotting away its base) and now damaging a second column.
This. Is. Bad.
I have been on the hunt for how water is getting in. And to this end…
… I had to see inside the beam, a view unseen since 1894. This though…sigh…revealed nothing.
Then I pulled apart the huge curved cornice to see behind it. This though…sigh…revealed nothing.
The other day I woke with a thought. What if the water is coming from the west side of the beam rather than the east as has been my focus?
So, I sent Godsend Eric up a ladder with an oscillating drill (best tool ever invented!) to try and pull away more of the huge curved cornice. This though…sigh…revealed nothing. However, a thought popped into my head…
…see how Eric’s right hand is holding the downspout? The spout vanishes into the abyss of the curved cornice, and…
…ends in the gutter. What if the hidden section has a hole or split seam? It looks pretty crappy from what we could see. If a seam had opened during the last century, water would escape, spill down the inside of the curved cornice, and…BINGO!…directly inside the porch beam.
To confirm this theory, we needed confirmation about the condition of the spout interior.
Right at this moment, the Gods sent along…
…an angel. Named Rob. And Rob The Angel offered a tool which will allow us to video inside the spout. Which Eric and I will do tomorrow.
If the spout, indeed, proves the culprit, I will have Ray Roofing make a new spout/flange to slip inside the original one. I can then rivet this to the gutter, and glop the white NASA sealant all over.
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Necessity is the mother of invention, as they say!
Good Thinking, I hope this solves the problem.
Thank goodness it wasn’t YOU up on the ladder. I was going to raise heck🥸
Hey! I can still get up a ladder! I’m not…quite…that enfeeble. Yet!
He’s got a camera on a long wire thing so you can watch it remotely on a laptop or something, doesn’t he? Like what plumbers use to check the sewer.
You are brilliant to think west rather than east. Very Sherlock Holmesy. “Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.” You’ve eliminated the east so what remains? The west.
I’m not a betting man, but I’d say you may have found it! Hoping you find it today and the porch leak saga reaches a quick conclusion.
Ooh – this looks to be a promising lead. Getting this mysterious leak under control will take a lot of pressure off whatever your time frame is for fall. Also, it’s great weather for for dealing with these seemingly small annoyances that, if not delt with, can become massive issues. (Seems like it was headed that way)
🍀I hope this indeed, closes the book on The Mysterious Leak Hunt.🍀
ok, but can we still get a video of someone throwing water over someone else? It’s for morale.
Thank you, Angel Rob.