Porch Floors (ref. FH Aug-Sept 2002, p. 17, “What pitch for a porch floor”
A further thought on preventing rot, splitting and peeling paint on the ends of porch floor boards.
The floor boards of the back porch on our 1929 brick colonial are made of fir, and the floor has a good slope (>1/4″/foot). However, when we moved in about 25 years ago, the paint was gone on the outer ends of the boards; the boards were cracking and starting to rot; and annual repainting was required because water running off the porch was soaking into the ends of the boards.
To prevent this, I installed a strip of aluminum flashing bent into a 1″ x 1″ right angle with one face screwed to the surface of porch at the ends of the boards and the other face hanging down beyond the underside of the floor boards. This formed a drip edge that diverted water beyond the wood. Caulking under the horizontal portion of the angle and along the “upstream” side prevents water from working its way under the aluminum angle. Painting makes the strip virtually invisible except on close inspection.
Result: In the two decades since installation, the splitting and rotting have stopped, and the outer ends of the floor boards hold paint as well as the protected part of the porch. A simple but highly effective fix.
