Water damaged wall underneath deck

Hello All,

I hope the community can give me some advice on the issue I am having. I own a townhome which was built in 1989. The back exterior wall of the home is water damaged due to (what I have been told) improper deck installation. I had new windows and patio door installed last fall, the crew installing the patio door brought the damage to my attention. It appears the rear patio steps were bolted directly over the siding (directly below the patio door) which created an improper seal between the patio and exterior wall. This allowed water to enter and cause wall rot. I noticed a cold draft last winter (Canadian Winter) which I now know is caused by the large hole in the exterior wall. The window technician told me this was a common problem for this area and type of build.

I suppose this is a multi part question.

1 - What do you think the best approach to fix the issue would be?
A - Remove upper tier of deck, remove all aluminum siding, replace rotted wood
B- Remove siding without removing deck, replace rotted wood

2 - What materials would be required for the repair? I suspect flywood and some sort of sealing paper.

2 - Is there any way to temporarily "plug" the hole to stop the draft over the coming winter. Not sure if I can get around to fixing before the snow flies.



I can lift up part of the siding, from what I see, the damage appears to be approx 4ft x 4ft however will be hard to tell for sure until the siding is removed.

I have attached a few photos to give you a better idea of the damage. The interior basement is finished therefore I would need to remove the inner drywall to access from the inside.

Thanks for your help!!

Bob

Welcome to the site.
There is a zipper tool that can open the siding to get to the nails.
The siding should have been removed and there should be a flashing visible from behind the siding and house wrap and over the ledger against the wall.
It does not look like the door has proper flashing below it either.
Any chance you could pull nails or screws and slide that section of deck out of the way, it will be a few hundred pounds

Thanks for the reply.

I am thinking of removing the portion of the deck leading up to the door entirely since it has shifted and warped over time. It should be replaced. If I tear apart the deck to access the wall, what would be the best way to properly re-attach the deck AFTER the wall has been repaired? I have looked online with mixed reviews.

Thanks again for the help

Bob

A popular method is to build it on posts slightly away and not attached to the house.
What we do is build the deck before the siding goes up and ledger is lag bolted to the rim joist. with house wrap or tar paper behind it and then cut the paper above the ledger and slide in a galvanized angle flashing so it is behind the paper and then install the deck board.
In Canada it is a good idea and code in many areas to drop the deck 6 to 7 1/5 inches below the door to keep snow off the door.
As you have siding there I would use that and the height of the stairs to determine what height would be best.
Is the basement finished, any water damage there.

Just to be clear, any damage that was visible when the door was out was caused by a poor door installation. You may have damage caused by a siding problem too, but the door will be the biggest issue.
Doesn't really matter you still have to take it apart find what is damaged and fix that anyway.

I will certainly consider floating the deck however may stick with the ledger.

I think the best solution would be to remove the top portion of the deck, ledger board and siding. Repair the damaged sections of rot. Re-attach ledger as you mentioned with tar paper or house wrap behind. My concern is making sure a good seal is created between the patio door and whatever is below it, siding, ledger board etc.

The old patio door was not installed correctly, and caused some damage to the subfloor. This was repaired when the new door went in however now I am left repairing the wall as you can see. I like the idea of dropping the deck to 7 inches below the door. This will keep snow from building up on the door itself.

On a scale of 1-10, how hard do you think this job will be? I am relatively handy.........or at least I think so:thbup:

Thanks again

Bob

And to answer your other question, there is no visible water damage inside. I suspect the leak was slow enough to keep puddles of water from building on the floor behind the finished drywall.

So all you know for sure is a problem below door.
Then the next question is did they install the new door correctly and from what I can see I would say no.
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2VOrk1MuWY[/ame]

Far better off making that deck freestanding.
That way there's 0 chance of wall damaged caused by the deck.
Somethings wrong with ever that stuff is under that threshold.
It should not stick out past it and count on caulking to seal it.
What you have now is a funnel.
Most common mistake I see is someone used 2 X lumber for support under the threshold.
It should be 3/4", 1 x 4 or 6 PVC lumber works great for this.

Thanks nealtw and joecaptain. The video outlines nicely how it should be done.

I agree, the seal between the flashing and ledger is not sufficient and does act like a funnel. I have the door company who installed it coming in a few weeks. We are going to discuss options for proper finishing of the patio door after I take the deck down and repair. I am on board with making this a floating deck, moving away from having the deck attached to the house.

If I do go with a floating deck, would you suggest sonotube style footings or is there an easier way?

Thanks again guys

Cheers

Bob

You will have to have two piers deeper than the the frost level far enough away from the house to not damage the drain pipe around the house.

Excellent, great advice guys.

Cheers!