I've been replacing my roof. Thankfully it doesn't really rain until summer in this part of the country, so though it's been a slow process, it is progressing. I'm now to the porch. The previous owners had at some time or another covered the roof decking with OSB. The main house roofdeck was done entirely in Douglas Fir planks and what I've done is replace any damaged or questionable boards with pine. The porch OSB had a couple of rotted-out holes, where the valleys dumped onto the porch and you could see that there was some completely rotted Doug Fir beneath, so I removed the OSB to replace the planks. (The OSB on top of the planks raised the roofdeck, so that the drip edge didn't hide it and we just thought it'd be better to take it down to the original and really fix it) When I got the OSB off, I could see why the previous owners had put it on and as a result, I've basically had to cut-out all but a couple of boards from each end. So, now I'm down to mostly the actual porch frame on the topside. Okay, now that the lengthy introduction is out of the way. (Apologies) Apparently when the water came down, it must've pooled at the frontside 9within the frame) because I've got an obviously rotten chunk of somethig I don't know what to call, but it's clearly two 2x4s nailed together (laminated?), sitting in front of a 2x6 and running the length of the porch (before the soffit). The rafters appear to sit on the 2x6 and I have to assume that because the support posts are under the 2x4s, then most likely the 2x6 is also joined to 2x4s, perhaps by some bolts that I can see. Part of me just wants to leave well enough alone because I can walk on the rafters and they don't give, plus everything looks to be on the same slope, but because this is the only time that I'm ever going to be in there working, my wife would like for me to cut out the bad spot. Does anyone have any advice about how to replace the bad spot in the 2x4s (the 2x6 seems fine), while still protecting the integrity of the structure. I'm thinking that I might need to install some temporary floor jacks (cellar posts) during the remodel, but because the porch is 8' wide, I don't think that I can really do a header or anything along those lines as a "fix". After a lot of thought, I'm now leaning toward thinking that I'd have to pretty much redo the whole thing, which is something I really don't want to do, if I have another choice as to how to replace or "fix" a 4' section of one laminated(?) beam. Any thoughts? Anyone? Perhaps some refinement of my terminology, so that I can better search the archives? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in Advance

I finally got started on replacing the subfloor. Recap... My home was built in the 50's. It has 5/16's solid oak flooring over 45 degree angle planks. There is a crawlspace. I am doing this room by room as to shift stuff from one room to the next during the remodel. My plan is to put new subfloor, examine the underside of the house, possibly put some cement piers under the floor joists (Want to buy a piano +/- 600 LBS) and install new engineered or solid flooring. I cut the subfloor along the base of the walls. I noticed many of the subfloor planks were split, weak, or not attached to the floor joists. Some had glue or cement and some did not. The floor joists are 2x8 at 16" Centers. The Rim Joist looks in good shape and so do all of the floor joists. The questions are: Now that I cut the subfloor around the base of the walls, I want to put blocking for the new subfloor to screw down to. The cement foundation is a little wider than the sill plate. The questions are: For the subfloor screw down edges, is it a good Idea to put 2x8 blocks, between the floor joists, sitting on the remaining section of foundation? What about the edges of wall that run parallel to the floor joists? I bought some T&G Sturd I Floor 23/32 to use as new subfloor. Good/Bad? There are no metal joist hangers attached to the rim plate. Can I put some? Lastly (for now :)) I wanted to know about the cement piers. I found some that have brackets already part of the pier. How were they meant to be used. The room we are talking about now has a wall that backs up to the living room where I am going to put the upright piano. I look forward the the knowledge you have to offer. Thanks a million. Fred