Front Entry Transformation: Tackling Rot for a Lasting Impact
A customer called me with a front door issue—the frame around the door was rotting, and water was getting into the entryway. The first issue I found was that the gutters were leaking right in the corner where the door was, and that the deck, stairs, and door all had issues with rot from moisture. Inside the entry, I suspected the floor might be rotted as well, and upon investigation, I found it was.
The entire door, frame, and sill assembly was changed with a new unit. Removing the siding to facilitate the work always presents a challenge, as it is older, faded, and can be brittle, so you must be careful with it. While you can buy new matching siding, it doesn’t match very well because the sun has faded the original siding. Prior to installing the door, I pulled back the carpet and removed the rotted sheathing from the floor inside the entrance. I put in support bracing at all the joints and installed new 5/8 plywood. The new door assembly was then installed.
The next step was to tear out the old deck and replace it with new. The old deck had saddles in the wrong position for what I was doing and was not attached to the house but rather standing on four legs. I mounted a ledger to the house using structural screws and built a new deck with new saddles. The stairs were a bit of a challenge as the concrete across the stair area was very unlevel and that makes landing the stringers quite challenging. However, with some math and a lot of patience, I got the stairs very solid and level. This was important as the customer’s elderly mother used these stairs, so they needed to be safe.
Once the deck was finished, I carefully reinstalled the new siding. This took some time as I had to match the fade lines that were created by some of the wall getting more sun than other parts. Before I put the carpet back in place, I suggested to the customer that we put something other than carpet inside the entryway for a couple of reasons. One, the old carpet was quite stained from the water damage, and two, it’s not a good idea to have carpet in an entryway as it tends to get wet and muddy from people coming in. I offered tile or vinyl plank, and they opted for vinyl plank.
All that was left was to fix the drywall around the new door that had been damaged by the water, spray foam insulate around the door to keep the cold out, and install new casing and baseboard. Some paint, and it was all like brand new. The customer wanted new gutters installed to avoid a repeat of the issue, but I declined and recommended a professional gutter company as they can provide a better product. The customer was so happy with my work and the final project, he had me do 3 more decks, and a set of stairs for the upstairs balcony.
If you find yourself with a front door or any door that’s showing signs of deterioration or just not working right, be sure and contact me to see what can be done to fix it. Getting on top of rotted wood issues early is always important because there is always more going on than just what you can see.
