I discovered 4x6 treated posts supporting my living room are rotting. What should I do? I plan concrete patio.

Question

There are 4 treated lumber 4x6 posts supporting extended living room in split level house. Posts are bedded in sand. I plan more sand, raise level of yard, and pour concrete patio which will enclose all posts. Do I replace or reinforce or is there protedtive sleeve that I can attach to good wood? Do I need to cut off rotted portion? Help...bad surprise in the nick of time!

Answer 1

You say you have discovered "rotting" 4x6's. If they are rotting I suggest that you replace them. It sounds like you want to have a patio under the living room so the room must be elevated quite high. Sounds like it is cantilevered. If the 4x's are rotted close to ground level you could cut them, (one at a time...literally... completly finish one and wait for a few days then go to the other side and do another rotating locations to help keep your room level. When you cut one, dig out the rotted post. Hopefully it is in some type of concrete and not simply stuck in the sand. Get some Sonotube and place it down into firm ground. You can simply slide the sonotube over the post. I would personally want at least 8-12 inches of post inside the tube. Get the post as close to centered in the tube as possible.Then you could simply fill the tube with new concrete. You could also get Simpson post bases and then attach your post to them rather than set the posts into the concrete. For best results, box in a footing about 20" square and put some L bent rebar into the footing and sonotube. I would use 16" sonotube. This is a two step process. 1st day pour footingand place tube in footing. 2nd day fill the tube. This is something you should be able to do yourself and though it is not cheap, it's a lot less expensive than hiring a cement contractor. You can get quikcrete at most any lumber store. All you do is add water and mix in a wheelbarrow using a garden hoe. Keep the concrete at least 8" above grade (ground). Also be sure your posts are plumb after you add the mix.

Answer 2

Replace the entire posts ASAP. These things are holding up a lot of weight, you do not want to take chances that the room will collapse. I don't understand why they are rotting, unless the treatment was creosote. Replace with pressure treated laminated posts, (several 2X4s glued and screwed together, cups facing opposite ways to give zero warp) Choose Pressure treated lumber to CCA 0.4 The post will never rot again. Make sure the posts bottoms are ABOVE ground about 1 inch.. Pour new footings and use post saddles that are bolted and glued into concrete. Then proceed to build your patio. Do not build yourself into a mess by not doing the posts first. Each post requires a footing of about 15X15", to a depth that exceeds the frost line. IF you are in an area that is prone to earthquakes, use all steel saddles and hurricane supports for timber to timber connections. Don't skimp on this ... you will live to regret it. Good luck

Answer 3

Concrete is going to be stronger. What I do is just put some water in the hole add some sacrete (bagged concrete mix you can get at any hardware store) use a pole and mix it right in the hole. This method is alot cheaper than getting a truck or renting a mixer. If using a green treated post the moisture shouldn't matter if using gravel, just keep packing in every few inches.

Answer 4

Replace the posts and set the new ones on concrete footings. Temporarily support the living room structure before cutting any posts. Do not bury the new posts in dirt or sand. Set them on galvanized metal post holders on top of the concrete footings (bolts are buried into the concrete before it hardens to fasten the post holders).

Answer 5

I would reinforce the posts with some type of a steel sleeve, just to fill in any groves or whole that the rotting wood might leave. Any of these holes would be problems areas down the road.

Answer 6

If it were my house and if they were supporting the living room, I'd get a professional in there to make sure that the posts don't need to be replaced.

Answer 7

You need to replace them with concrete & rebar.You could have termites.