Looking for advise to repair rotted beam!
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I'm looking for any advise for repairing the rotted areas shown below. There were a few cracks on the beam's top that lead to water rotting out the intersection with the roof fasia board. I made a repair about 8-9 years ago and it has failed. I have removed the filler piece and scraped out all the filler and some new rot.
My plan is to remove the rest of the fasia board below the flashing to the roof boards. I plan to use Abatron's Liquid Wood epoxy to consolidate the top of the beam and all the other rotted areas on the faia board, and exposed roof board, then use Wood Epox to rebuild the rotted out beam top. Then I'll lap joint a new piece of wood to fill in the fasia board. I was considering using Liquid Wood to seal the new wood edges and to adhere it to the original fasia board to seal the joints above and to the right and left. I've read lots of good things about the Abatron products, it's supposed to be permanent.
The long cracks on the beam are very old. The longest crack is half the thickness of the beam depth. I've filled them before and they always fail. So they will be treated first with the Liquid Wood to seal it and take care of the surface rot. I'll then fill with Wood Epox. The final touch will be to place flashing on top of both beams. But I'm not sure how one deals with how the flashing connects with the fasia board.
Insights appreaciated! I'm sure someone has experienced this too! Am I nuts to do this myself?
Thanks, Nelson
Old repair removed: A small part of the top of the beam is gone.
I went thru similar repairs 2 years ago. I actually cut with a circular saw and sliced 1/4" off the top portion of the damaged beams. I used some boric acid based solution (due to termite damage) and wood filling for the voids. Then I nailed down on the missing portions, pre-sized and pre-cut redwood, puttied, sanded and painted. It's only been 2 years but it holds and looks very nice. The portion of the beams in the atrium are not compression load bearer but they do experience tension, compression or torsion depending on the how the loads applied in the house. So it is OK to cut away a little bit of the top portion. Also the trick with the portable circular saw is to clamp some metal guides on the beam so that the cut is straight. My roommate and I did the job on our own, from start to finish it took us a month during summer. Not for the fainted heart...
David
David-
Thanks for your beam repair story. I was thinking at one point to use a router to remove the top 1/4 inch or so and leave the outer edges alone so the repair wouldn't have a chance to show. Then fill in with new wood and then cap with flashing. I'll consider your solution as some of the edges are not too good now!
Nelson
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