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Detail at edge of deck

2902 Views 6 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  Cutonce
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We're replacing the built-up beam at the edge of this deck. It's rotted through. The flashing was a joke. It's an exit balcony, and this is purely functional/safety work for an HOA.

The seams between the last couple of boards collect water, because the seam sits on top of the beam (actually on top of the flashing on top of the beam). I'd appreciate any good ideas about how to get water to drain out of there? The beam is about 18' long, and as you can see, there are stairs up to the deck, at one end of the beam.

We're only replacing the decking as made necessary by our repair of the beam. I'm wondering about cutting some wide kerfs sideways across the bottom of the last few deck boards. No concerns about the effect on strength (because they're just sitting on the beam). But there's a huge amount of debris from pine trees above, and any weep cuts may just clog up with rotting debris.

The beam will be replaced with the same size built-up beam, only PT this time. I have no ability to change that.

Any advice will be appreciated.

Thanks,

Bob

Edit: The pix show the end where the stairs are, but it's a concern all along. The built-up beam is five pieces of 2x10 PT plus one RW fascia.

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You could probably leave the top of the beam a bit lower than the joists and put composite shims on top of the beam at the joist locations to keep the decking level. Wrap the beam and fascia top with Vycor to prevent water from getting between the layers.

It looks like 2x decking so you could probably just rip a single piece of 2x PT so that it extends from the first decking edge that doesn't fall over the beam to whatever the fascia overhang is. With one piece you won't have anywhere for water and crud to flow through to the beam surface. Cut a 1/8" kerf in the wide piece of PT to make it look like multiple decking boards.

That's my quick and dirty recommendation which is what I assumed you were looking for.
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Maybe an Aluminum or Stainless steel cap over the top of the beam.
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Can't you just replace those boards with one wider board so there's no seam?
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Maybe an Aluminum or Stainless steel cap over the top of the beam.
Thanks, yes, no question about that. There was some goofy flashing under those deck boards, carefully channeling water into the boards.
Can't you just replace those boards with one wider board so there's no seam?
Maybe. I'm not thrilled with putting a wide board (let's say 11") on a waterproof surface - it will cup or crack when I screw it down to keep it from cupping. I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to screw through the cap over the beam anyway, to hold anything down, and I'd rather not put in too many screws.

The HOA wants 6" boards, to match the rest of the deck.

As usual, it helps me just to write this stuff down. I'll probably go with 6" boards, and let the HOA know they may have to replace them in 10 years. Much ado about nothing. Thanks, everyone.
Whatever you do to the porch decking, you still wont have solved the actual problem that water is dripping on it.

From looking at the pictures, it seems that there is no guttering and there has been frequent water dripping on the moldy steps. Can a gutter or diverter be installed on the roof above the steps?
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