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jyl jyl is online now
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Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Nor California & Pac NW
Posts: 24,857
Garage
Leveling Old Porch



This is the porch of the house I’m working on.

It has a noticeable slant down from house to edge. About 2 degrees. The edge of the porch is very roughly 2” lower than where the porch meets the house. I think this was done to shed rain, with a hundred years of settling as well.

It’s not an issue and walking, standing, or sitting, but cafe tables are noticeably un-level.

I am thinking about fixing this by pulling up the boards, passing them through a planer to remove a century of alligatored paint, placing shims under the joists, then reattaching the boards. Address any joist issues while I’m in there. I wouldn’t aim for perfectly level, but maybe get the slant down to 1 degree. I think the edge would still be below the bottom rail and the column base. I’d rather not have to rebuild the rail and feet.

Or, I could leave it as is. Put adjusters on the table feet. Call it “authenticity” and “character”.

If I just want to get the old paint off, I can do that with the PaintShaver, leaving the boards in place.

Whaddya think?

This probably isn’t high on my priority list, but I do want to do some work on the porch before placing the building in service. A proper top rail with a shallow counter to set coffee cups or laptops on. Etc.
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Old 11-10-2025, 10:27 AM
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