LESLIE: Now we’ve got Lawrence in Wisconsin on the line who’s dealing with a porch post that’s rotting. Tell us what’s going on.
LAWRENCE: It’s an outdoor porch on the front of the house. And where that post and the floor come together there, the corners of the post – about an inch in on each corner – are rotting away. And I was wondering if there was a way I can fix that or does that entire post have to come out?
TOM: So, is it just the base of the post, because the moisture collects there?
LAWRENCE: Yes.
TOM: Can you sort of dig out the rotted area? Because if it’s just a small area like that, you can dig it out and fill it back in with a product like an Elmer’s Wood Filler, which will take shape and you can kind of work it like wood after it dries. So you don’t necessarily have to tear it out.
Now, the other little trick of the trade for dealing with those porch-column bottoms – is it a square column?
LAWRENCE: Yes.
TOM: So, what you could do is you could add another piece of trim on the outside of that on all four sides and put a skirting on the bottom of the column. And that’ll – if you do it well, it looks like it was always designed to be that way. Does that make sense?
LAWRENCE: Yeah, the – when the builders built, they put a little piece of wood all the way around it.
TOM: Yeah, like a piece of trim? So you put a bigger piece of wood – like a taller piece of wood – all the way around it. If it’s just a small quarter round or something like that, you could put a 3-inch or even a 6-inch skirting around the bottom of that on all four sides and you’ll completely cover up the rotted area.
LAWRENCE: OK. I’ll give that a try.
TOM: A lot easier than replacing the post, right?
LAWRENCE: Yes, it is.
TOM: Alright. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
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