I've got wooden stairs leading up to a porch that need repairs. The more I look into it, the more that I see needs to be done, so I'd like advice as to what I should do short term and what I can put off.
Here is a summary:
- About 10% of the tread boards are clearly in need of replacement. For one, my foot went through it.
- The stringers have rot where the nails from the rotten tread boards were. The rotten wood goes 1" deep.
- Other rotting near the bottom of posts that is cosmetic rather than structural.
I have pictures below to illustrate.
These are the three levels of repair I am considering:
- At a minimum, I need to replace the 10% of the rotten tread boards and use putty on the stringers.
- Replace all of the tread boards and patch stringers where needed.
- Rip everything out and rebuild. I'd like to put this off for a few years because the rest of the porch needs work as well.
The criteria is that I'd like the stairs to last another 5 years or so until I do larger renovations on the porch, and to minimize the amount of needed work until then.