Any carpenters here know how to fix a rotten door?

I can't count how many people I've argued with about dropping the deck down one step from the house floor level. Most recently, our son. They built a new house two years ago. My father in-law was insisting on making the rear deck level with the floor inside. Well, since I was basically building his deck for him, it was installed one step down. Sometimes they don't know until they've lived it several times.

I also agree with maybe thinking about some kind of overhang there to protect damage in the future.
 
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I can't count how many people I've argued with about dropping the deck down one step from the house floor level. Most recently, our son. They built a new house two years ago. My father in-law was insisting on making the rear deck level with the floor inside. Well, since I was basically building his deck for him, it was installed one step down. Sometimes they don't know until they've lived it several times.

I also agree with maybe thinking about some kind of overhang there to protect damage in the future.
Interesting comment. We're building a small addition onto our house - with a concrete patio as well. The amount of apparent "cultural bias" against having a step down from the house to the patio was "interesting". The guys just couldn't understand why I wanted a step down, but they FINALLY did it my way.
 
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I also agree with maybe thinking about some kind of overhang there to protect damage in the future.

At minimum I will put a gutter over it. For an overhang I need to measure height to see if there's enough room above and still slope enough.
 
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Interesting comment. We're building a small addition onto our house - with a concrete patio as well. The amount of apparent "cultural bias" against having a step down from the house to the patio was "interesting". The guys just couldn't understand why I wanted a step down, but they FINALLY did it my way.
One of the best assets a tradesman can have is conceptual thinking- a deck level with the door means rainwater is hitting at floor level. If water can’t run down it will seek its own level at best- It also has a tendency to go from the greater to the lesser in any form so the dry wood inside will soak it up-

It also means the deck is attached to the band (or rim) joist - if the band is not shielded water transfer is inevitable-

The worst part is it generally makes it difficult to flash the apron of the sill or defeats it.

Ultimately the distance from the house to the ground is the same - a step as you exit the structure has so many advantages and no real downside- that step has to be taken at some point.
 
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At minimum I will put a gutter over it. For an overhang I need to measure height to see if there's enough room above and still slope enough.
Maybe your overhang could be built like this if there isn't enough room above the header, then it would divert snow/water off each side instead of right in front of your entry path.
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Ultimately the distance from the house to the ground is the same - a step as you exit the structure has so many advantages and no real downside- that step has to be taken at some point.
Exactly. This house is "down in the mud" as it is - but nobody seemed to grok why I wanted the step down. Keeps the water from running under the door! Much like the guy that installed a new back door for me in California. He just could NOT get it why I wanted the damn thing to open outward. He finally talked to the guy who supplies his doors, and that guy told him "Your customer's reasons are sound."
 
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Exactly. This house is "down in the mud" as it is - but nobody seemed to grok why I wanted the step down. Keeps the water from running under the door! Much like the guy that installed a new back door for me in California. He just could NOT get it why I wanted the damn thing to open outward. He finally talked to the guy who supplies his doors, and that guy told him "Your customer's reasons are sound."
A key with an outswing exterior is security hinges so the door cant be pulled by removing the pins-

The beauty of an outswing is it moves the building envelope basically in plane with the siding.

If I had $100 for every one of these type rot situations out there I could probably retire- the main problem is builders simply do not shield the opening or allow drainage. The percentage of houses that have some type of water management issue is unbelievable.
 
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The percentage of houses that have some type of water management issue is unbelievable.
Amen ! , I think this is true of 99.9% of homes.
The next crapfest in newer homes is EIFS , Back when I worked for an inspection company virtually all EIFS were installed incorrectly !
Gutters that ran into sheathing then the EIFS installed around the gutters, No flashing anywhere !, no chaulking joint/space around dissimilar materials eg. EIFS to windows or door penetrations. You were fortunate to see a halfassed finger wipe of silicone at the
interface of the two. All the majority of EIFS installs seem to do is funnel water into your walls and trap it there.

But given how the building industry is structured I understand why you end up with these outcomes most of the time.
Thankfully some customers and contractors see eye to eye and will spend a little more up front to actually do the job
correctly and avoid the wave of issues coming down the road.
 
Amen ! , I think this is true of 99.9% of homes.
The next crapfest in newer homes is EIFS , Back when I worked for an inspection company virtually all EIFS were installed incorrectly !
Gutters that ran into sheathing then the EIFS installed around the gutters, No flashing anywhere !, no chaulking joint/space around dissimilar materials eg. EIFS to windows or door penetrations. You were fortunate to see a halfassed finger wipe of silicone at the
interface of the two. All the majority of EIFS installs seem to do is funnel water into your walls and trap it there.

But given how the building industry is structured I understand why you end up with these outcomes most of the time.
Thankfully some customers and contractors see eye to eye and will spend a little more up front to actually do the job
correctly and avoid the wave of issues coming down the road.
Fine HomeBuilding had an issue showing an EIFS failure in the issue - on the cover that month it showed Tom Meehan setting tile over Durock backer in a shower with no moisture barrier behind it - Durock is basically a sheet goods version of EIFS with no foam to slow water down- a tile shower used 10 minutes a day once a day gets the equivalent of 167” of annual rainfall.

My point is ignorance abounds-

All reservoir sidings - anything porous- needs to have a drainage plane behind it and then a vapor barrier-

The current trend of Hardie brand cement siding installed tight to woven housewrap or Zip sheathing with no drainage plane will damage more homes than EIFS can- because it is used so prolifically, with the false understanding that “water resistant” means a “a barrier to water”. That is where the problem lies. Water may not affect tile, brick, EIFS, Hardie and so on but they are not a barrier-

Brick is the only product that has had long term success for one simple reason- the gap between it and the sheathing. The only place you will see failures around brick are typically poorly flashed door and window openings.
 
My employer in California had a new building built ca 1996, and it was covered with Hardie panel before it was well understood. They ended up having to paint it after a few years.
 
How I fixed my stupid french door that kept leaking. We bought the house in 2009, I replaced the door in 2010, I learned a lot... and had to replace it again in 2018. I also combined it with building a new 24x24 deck, replacing the door, again, and building a 30" overhang over the whole thing.

Old deck with no flashing. Rotted face board.

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PIA... but replaced... the previous owners melted the siding with a grille too close to the house, it annoyed me since the day we bought the house.
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Flashed the whole thing well above the deck line and made sure to overhang the brick a couple inches.
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Went a step further and flashed over the first deck attachment board. I know it doesn't look like it in the pic, but that is treated exterior deck lumber.
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As other mentioned, I fully wrapped the door frame. Remember, water runs top to bottom, so the higher pieces always overlap the lower pieces.

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I didn't grab a pic of the french door, but this time I used one of these pvc expandable door pans. Obviously a different door, just showing it for reference.

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Before that... I got to rip up and replace flooring. thank God the joist were good, just a little damp, I let them dry for a day before I closed everything up. I was able to get creative and fix the floor with some nice tiling right in front of the door.
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New Door installed. As others have mentioned, I hate wood trim. Pressure washing peels the paint, etc. My house has a large front porch and large rear deck. Everything looked like crap when we bought the house, the wood railings were all bowed, the paint was all peeling, so I replaced ALL of the railing with TREX rails and the fancier colonial spindles. I also replace all of the wood brick moulding around my house with PVC. I painted it all in spring of 2018 and it looks like new still, I keep it pressure washed every 2-ish years.
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Large deck finished, overhang roof added, siding and shutters done.
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How it originally looked, and if anyone was curious, yes I did ALL of this myself, even replaced all of the windows, minus the re-roof on the house, insurance took care of that thanks to quarter sized hail, so we went with a lighter color. A friend had an old 50' lift bucket truck I "borrowed" for about 6 months to get the high up stuff:

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Also, you guys might find this interesting... how to NOT install a garage door...

just nail it over the siding.

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And don't bother to frame it or add a header...

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Did the best I could without ripping all my sheeting off.

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Done - ish.

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Also, you guys might find this interesting... how to NOT install a garage door...

just nail it over the siding.

View attachment 303373

And don't bother to frame it or add a header...

View attachment 303372

Did the best I could without ripping all my sheeting off.

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Done - ish.

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I’ve seen that- saw some guys nail window flanges directly to dutch lap siding and put 1x4 around it and called it good- worst hack job I ever saw- same job I had cleaned the shower (I was a tile setter back in the day) and dumped 2-3 gallons of water in the drain- well.......a huge gentleman was in the crawlspace plumbing and got soaked- he was maaaaad. 😝😝😝

I was like “what in the world are you doing just now making connections?” - I guess this means no pressure test. No permit, no problem was their motto.
 
Good news! The guy who works for Pella came out with samples and is super knowledgeable and does his own work too. He did some preliminary measurements and should have a quote back to me within 2 weeks. After that, we finalize colors and measurements and they'll take 4 months to come in. Our winter doesn't end until May anyway, so that should work out perfect.
 
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Good news! The guy who works for Pella came out with samples and is super knowledgeable and does his own work too. He did some preliminary measurements and should have a quote back to me within 2 weeks. After that, we finalize colors and measurements and they'll take 4 months to come in. Our winter doesn't end until May anyway, so that should work out perfect.
Awesome-keep us posted.
 
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Also, we're considering replacing the moldy door that's the topic of this thread with a window instead. 1) We rarely use the door. 2) It creates some confusion to newcomers because you have to walk past it to get to the main door. On the other hand, it's nice being able to open it into a big "screened in window" in the summer and let a breeze across the house.

I also found some mold on the wood flooring near the main door. It looks like it's just on top from condensation but we'll see once the door comes out. It'll be an adventure for sure!

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Also, we're considering replacing the moldy door that's the topic of this thread with a window instead. 1) We rarely use the door. 2) It creates some confusion to newcomers because you have to walk past it to get to the main door. On the other hand, it's nice being able to open it into a big "screened in window" in the summer and let a breeze across the house.

I also found some mold on the wood flooring near the main door. It looks like it's just on top from condensation but we'll see once the door comes out. It'll be an adventure for sure!

View attachment 305204
Not a bad idea since its unsheltered-hard to say without having a spatial feel of the property but see the reasoning- be sure you have the fire egress you need whatever you do.

Looks like a cool getaway.
 
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I've been doing a ton of research and discovered that we need to do some more changes around the house for it to function well according to the latest standards.

Issues:
  1. We have a natural gas stove that provides our heat (looks like a wood burning stove). This is a vented modal as far as I can tell, so it shouldn't be sucking air in, but our dryer and bathroom vents do need a source of make up air (they currently pull from around the doors and windows).
  2. The doors and windows all either have mold and/or the glass likely isn't argon filled... only double pane.
  3. I spent a few hours last night in the crawlspace coming up with a game plan and found that there's definitely some air movement happening down there. I think most of it is coming from the door but some might be coming from other unsealed penetrations.

So the game plan is to finish up fully encapsulating the crawlspace and make it part of the conditioned living space by:

  1. Replace the doors and windows and remove the mold in the subflooring (the main topic of this thread).
  2. Switch to a forced air furnace and AC with whole home dehumidifier and HRV. (we'll still use the gas stove when we want)
  3. Seal and insulate the rim joists.
  4. Seal and insulate all of the gaps in the crawlspace foam board currently on the walls.
 
Does anyone know what this "vent" in the plumbing is for? It was installed a few years ago when we had a washer machine drain installed. It doesn't smell so hopefully safe to leave?

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