My porch steps went from wobbly to solid in one weekend

I replaced the rotted stringers on my front porch last Saturday. The old ones were 2x12s that had been sitting there since the house was built in 1998. Used pressure treated lumber and added extra blocking between the stringers this time. Has anyone else dealt with getting old stringers out without damaging the porch floor?

2 comments

2 Comments

barnes.kai8d ago

Did you put any kind of vapor barrier or gravel down underneath before you set the new stringers? That's what usually rots them out in the first place.

morgan_jenkins907d ago

Got a buddy who learned this one the hard way. He ripped out his old rotted deck stairs, put in all new pressure treated stringers, looked real clean. Six months later they started sagging and the bottoms were all soft again. Turns out he never put anything under them, just set them right on the dirt. Water just wicked up from the ground and rotted them out from underneath despite the wood being treated. Gravel and a vapor barrier would have saved him from having to do the whole job twice. Guy still gets annoyed every time we bring it up.