Porch Restoration Q's

[mkiehn20]

Our 1916 bungalow is in need of some major porch repairs due to some rotten support beams underneath. We'll be tackling the project of replacing the rotting boards (as well as the tongue and groove, which is also in rough shape) next month with the help of my father in law, who has lots of experience with this type of work.

My job in the whole thing is to strip the porch railings of their layers of caked on paint (likely lead), repairing, and repainting. This leads me to a question:

Our craftsman style home has porch columns where the lower part is cement and the upper part is wood. The porch railings, which are original, run right into the cement column base. How in the world are they attached? Is there some way we can remove the railings while we repair the porch and then reattach them?

[Lily left the valley]

Have you looked just under the edges of the top rail by the concrete to see if there is a set screw or bolt/nut of some type? It may have such.

Some are done with a pocket cut into the top rail, so in such a case it would be inset within the wood, not an L bracket.

There could also be a brace that was set in the concrete and the porch rail was screwed on upwards from below into that brace. It may be buried under paint, or someone could have glooped over it to cosmetically hide it too.

I'm taking a break from yard work, but when I get back from the second round with the front yard, I'll see if I can find a diagram of such so you know what to look for.

Another quick thought--if there was repair to the concrete over time, the additional layers may be hiding same as well.

[phil]

was the cement poured around the wood? can you get a sawzall under, between the board and the cement to cut any fasteners? You can always drill the cement and insert lead plugs to hold new screws when reattaching, or if you need more strength you could use Hilti anchors and threaded fasteners. a picture might help.

I have a handrail that I needed to be able to move to get furniture into the attic so I stuck a pair of these on either end of the handrail. they are completely invisible and all I need to do is unscrew my post cap and then lift the handrail and it unhooks at both ends. when it is dropped into place it is very sturdy.

or as Lily suggests you could perhaps put L brackets against the cement post and under your railing to support it. maybe wit a couple of lag screws from underneath ?

here are the flush mount clips in case they help. I got mine at HD.
you need to chisel out a little pocket from both pieces and then they are hidden from sight.

http://www.screwfix.com/p/flush-mounts- ... pack/11423