Replacing rotten Porch post advice needed

It may look a little odd the way you propose.

You could cut and splice it, I suppose.
It will probably be stitch nailed to the roof timbers.
 
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Ah, the decking post may not be square cross-section along the whole length? I did wonder why the merchant was calling it a newall. doh, I should have paid more attention. I'll have to phone them tomorrow. :confused:

Excuse my ignorance, but what is stitch nailing? (I can't find a google image which describes it)


Update: picked up all the new timber. New decking newall post is just under 90x90mm square. (Old post is about 94x94mm) Where they sawed the end of the post to the correct length, I noticed very little preservative has penetrated into the core of this piece of kiln dried timber.
 
+1 to a splice joint if you don't just replace.

What you propose "could" work structurally but would look poop IMO.

Remember when you cut into treated timber, any newly exposed timber will have no treatment (treatment only forms an envelope), so re-treat any cut timber, and try to only cut one end of it, and use the uncut end in the base.

Newall post could be square or shaped, likely square if sold for decking.
 
Stitch nailed- nails driven into the side of the timbers to secure against another. Big eff off nails through the upright and into roof timbers.
 
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i would check to see if the under cladding of the porch is capable of supporting any weight what so ever. Some of the mouldings for soffits are a completely hollow section without any load supporting ability what so ever. This means that you will either have to strip it off or support the top of the pillar with the bottom of it removed. Clamping two bits of 6" X 1" with at least four big clamps should. You can then support the planks on two temporary pillars (not too close to the original- 6" away each side).
Because the weight is downwards, any sort of fixing between the two sections of the pillar will do, its only to stop people accidently kicking the bottom bit out. Those nail plates are a bit over the top, as they will have let into the wood to get a final flat finish either for painting or planking. The important thing is to use a decent waterproof glue. In order to get the foot of your new timber into the shoe (old or new), there must be some vertical slack. One way would be , when you put your temporary pillars in, is to drive wedges in under both to raise the whole structure by 1/4". You then knock the wedges out when your set up is finished, and hopefully before the glue has gone off.
Frank
 
I like your suggestion of supporting the top half of the old post.

To avoid hiring or buying 4 large clamps which I presume won't be cheap, could I screw the 1x6 timbers into the top half of the existing post using some suitably sized stainless steel coach screws ? eg. 3 screws on each piece ?

I had in mind to hire a pair of acrow props. I presume I could use these to lift the porch a bit higher when needed ?
 
You could try drilling the planks outside of the posts dimension, though close to it and fit studding through with nuts and washers to clamp the sides of the post. It will work better if you put pieces of wood between the clamping boards at their ends, the same width as the post, it will help to stop the clamping boards bending and marring the post.
If you use Acroyd props (with a large spreader board) and jack away it will all be going well until there is a cracking sound and you have ruined a plank or two or it is all OK until you dismantle your props and you have a perfect shape of your spreader board in the plastic above your head. Its your call !
Frank
 
I've had a closer look at how the under cladding was originally fitted. Contrary to my earlier concerns, it looks like the shiplap cladding can be dismantled quite easily working from the front door towards the post. Only the guttering and fascia board on the side of the porch just needs removing or loosening.

This seems like the best way forward and a full post can be fitted too.
 
The cladding nails may be far more difficult to remove than I first thought.

I've destroyed the 10mm round plastic cap to reveal the flat nail head of one nail. There is now a 1mm gap between the nail head and the fascia board.

I've used a variety of hand tools to try and lever the nail out but all I've ended up achieving is putting indentations into the fascia board and the nail doesn't seem to want to budge. Access is very bit restricted due to the nearby bay window and tiles - in fact I wonder how they managed to originally install the nails.

Are the smaller concealed nails holding up the shiplap undercladding going to be just as difficult to remove without damaging the cladding?
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Update: an oscillating multifunction tool can be used to cut off the protruding nail heads on the fascia board. But I don't think the tool will help with the remaining 50 concealed undercladding nails....

I may have to abandon the idea of removing the under cladding because I fear by using say a claw hammer to try and carefully lift off the shiplap by its tongue, I may end up breaking the tongue off too many planks.
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Update 2: I had a local carpenter come round today to quote, and he was confident he could replace the entire post and without damaging or removing any upvc undercladding too.
 
Just an update. The carpenter cut a piece of timber to exact length, hammered it vertical to prop up the porch where there is beam hidden by the cladding. Thankfully, no damage that I could see to the upvc after the prop was removed.

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He found the 4 long screws securing the top of the post to the underside of the porch timbers. The screw heads were partially hidden by the upvc cladding and old paint.

After removing the old post, it became evident the metal shoe had a flat metal base. Water had been collecting in the shoe causing the untreated timber post to rot. The shoe was not 'loose' so the void was filled with rapid set cement. An inverted L shaped pipe was inserted into the wet cement to form a deep hole for the new expansion bolt and to eliminate need for drilling. 90 minutes later, bolt was hammered in and new Simpsons post base was mounted on top.

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Most of the time was spent constructing the new removable box timber cladding to shroud the treated post and Simpsons base. Apart from two screws, all the remaining filled in screw holes are only visible on one side of the new box cladding - this is far better than I could have achieved as a DIYer.
 

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