My concrete back porch (approx 5'x15'), which was previously painted green, is in bad need of paint. However, every time it rains, a large area of the porch gathers a puddle; obviously it shouldn't do this. (1) What's the best way to take care of the 'pooling' problem before I redo the porch? and (2) What's the best way to go about repainting the porch so it doesn't peel and show 3-4 different paint jobs underneath? I am an up-and-coming female "weekend handyman", so please speak my language !!!! :p Thanks!

Hi all, First off, I'm a new home owner - and hence a new DIYer for these types of projects. I'm also located in Southern Ontario, Canada - just for the record. My house is a raised bungalow design, and as such has a deck off of the back door about 8 feet off the ground (deck is about 10'x15' in size). The deck has not been treated very well, but is stable and reasonably well built. However, the support posts are all free standing - and by that I mean, they are not only not sunk and concreted in the ground, they are actually currently just sitting on a bed of gravel. However, they have been standing that way for 17 years... so it seems to have worked whether it is proper or not. I also don't know if they were done that way for a reason or not. I've noticed a *large* amount of heaving in anything that *is* sunk in the ground. In any case, my question is that we would like to build a new section to the deck, lower down (about 4' off the ground). I would assume that one end would normally use the same support posts as the existing deck, but then how should the other posts be mounted? I'd think that only sinking some of the posts would be a bad idea? Should I instead make the whole new section free standing - or would that cause even worse problems? Or should I just follow the convensions of the existing section? Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks, Gibber