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Big Hole in Patio Ceiling and Rotting Wooden Beam... Send Help!

Big Hole in Patio Ceiling and Rotting Wooden Beam... Send Help!


  #1  
Old 08-03-15, 03:00 PM
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Exclamation Big Hole in Patio Ceiling and Rotting Wooden Beam... Send Help!

Hello there. I am a new forum-member seeking some advice regarding my patio. I have a big hole in my patio's ceiling, and my patio's wooden support beams are rotting. Please see these pictures of the damage:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/2zhckq6vu...ture+1%3A2.JPG

I live in Houston, TX. I don't remember how the hole began, but it was likely created by water damage. You might have heard of the flooding we had in Houston a few months ago. The water from that storm/flooding made this hole and this rotting beam a lot worse. The climate in Houston is very hot and humid most of the year.

Picture 1 shows both the hole and my patio's support beam. The middle of the beam is breaking due to water damage. Wood-burrowing bees are taking up residence in the beam. There are a number of small wasp and hornet nests forming.

Picture 2 is a wider shot of all the damage, and shows the gutter attached to my patio. The gutter is falling off because the nails which hold up the gutter are embedded in rotting wood.

The rest of the pictures are other views of the problem I hope are useful to you.


I am hoping that I can start some repairs on this before I leave my (parent's) house for college in two weeks.

Am I in over my head? How do I begin to fix this? I'm a Physics student... so I'm qualified with measuring tape I guess. At the very least is there something I can do to prevent these problems from getting any worse?

Thank you for reading my post and thank you for any guidance/advice you can offer me.
 
  #2  
Old 08-03-15, 03:09 PM
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The damage was most likely caused by a roof leak, has that been repaired?

It's not too big of a deal to cut out the damaged drywall and replace. It would also need to be taped and mudded prior to primer/paint. It would be better to replace all of the drywall with something more weather friendly.
 
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Old 08-03-15, 03:09 PM
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Welcome to the forums! Over your head, maybe, but doable. First the ceiling will have to come down as well as the fan and light trims. You must find out what is causing the damage. I suspect since it is a patio that the roof pitch is fairly flat. If it is attached to the main part of the house, water must have a substantial way of running off. Maybe if you were to post a few pictures of the roof itself and where it ties into the house, we can tell more about what you are in for. http://www.doityourself.com/forum/el...your-post.html
 
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Old 08-03-15, 03:12 PM
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Are you in over your head? Yeah I would say so. None of the pictures show the source of the leak from above (the shingles on the hip roof) so if you can add some that would be great. Let's assume that nothing structural is rotten... and that you need to rip off shingles and plywood. That's probably something you can do. You could certainly rip off the ceiling drywall (drywall outside in the Houston climate is just plain stupid, but thats beside the point) and then inspect the framing for rot. If its fine structurally it will be okay to cover it up once it dries out.

As for the beam that runs out to the brick columns, you would want to remove the trim that is covering the framing in order to learn the extent of the damage to the framing. If the framing is still good and solid, you lucked out. If it's partially rotted it might or might not be okay... all depends whether it's 1/4" of rot or 2" of rot or 6" of rot. The trim covering the beam is probably something like LP Smarttrim or similar. At the least I would think you could do all the tearoff and get a better idea of what you're into. Then you would fix the leak so that it doesn't keep getting worse. I'm guessing you are missing a couple shingles or something up there. Should have been noticed and repaired a looooong time ago.
 
  #5  
Old 08-03-15, 05:09 PM
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I agree, pictures of the inside damage are useless to see the real issue causing all that damage.
That one storm had nothing to do with all that old damage, that's been leaking on the roof for a long time.
 
 

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