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bobbotron
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# Posted: 25 Jun 2013 09:10pm
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Hey all, hope you're having a great summer!
Recently I was considering insulating the gable end in my cabin when I noticed a small section of the bottom part of the gable end's 2x6 was discolored (in the middle of the board). I poked it and noticed the wood seems soft, but dry in the discoloured area. This is on top of the top plates, no evidence of moisture around, and everything else seems good. It looks like it was starting from either a knot or damaged part of the board, I'm guessing it was just a bad piece of wood that I didn't notice until now. I took a look outside and I don't see how it could be getting that wet, as it's open on the inside, tyvek on the out, plus a layer of OSB. There was a tiny leak in the winter which is now solved, where the ridge wasn't quite sealed, which may have accelerated it (fixed now.) The area is about 1" wide at the widest, and maybe a foot long but mostly bad around this one knot/damaged area.
Anyway, I was wondering if you had any suggestions on what I should do about it. The board is the lower chord of the triangle of 2x6's that make up the gable end, it's not doing a ton. I've considered either
a) do nothing (I'm not a big fan of this option)
b) chisel out some of the soft wood, and then treat the crap out of it with epoxy rot repair and then borate wood preservative
c) remove a section of the 2x6, replace with a new piece and put a plywood gusset on the ends.
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bobbotron
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# Posted: 25 Jun 2013 09:19pm
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Here's a photo of it. Because of the shadows going on it's really put into relief/contrast, doesn't look this pronounced in real life.
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TheWildMan
Member
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# Posted: 26 Jun 2013 08:00am
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replace it and treat it with a waterproof coating (the new piece), thats what i would do anyway
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Martian
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# Posted: 26 Jun 2013 08:23am - Edited by: Martian
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The cost (time)/benefit to repairing doesn't warrant any action at this time. Its not load bearing. It isn't even cosmetic since its in the attic.
However, if is keeping you awake, then my suggestion would be to cut out the effected area and fit in a replacement piece. First, cut your replacement piece, hold it over the area and draw around it. Then use a circular and oscillating saw to remove the bad area (stay just inside the lines). Check the sheathing for water damage and break off, or cut, any fasteners protruding into the space. Assuming no rot in the sheathing, after applying liquid nail to the back side, tap the new piece into place and secure with screws down from the top. Done deal.
Tom
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bldginsp
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# Posted: 26 Jun 2013 08:58am - Edited by: bldginsp
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I agree with Martian. It's not a serious problem as is. But even though it is dry now, it rotted because it was wet before, probably that ridge leak you fixed. All I'd do is make absolutely sure that it is staying dry. If it is, the rot won't spread. But if it gets wet at all it will. One insidious thing about rotted wood is that it is more porous and spongy than solid wood, so it soaks up more moisture, which promotes more rot. But keep it dry and it will stabilize.
Another thing you could do is to remove the exterior siding and paper and see what you find. Could be that the rot is a lot worse there. One thing about paper or Tyvek is that if leaked water gets in behind it, the paper holds the water there for a while, promoting rot. There's a remote chance that the small area you see here is just the tip of the iceberg. If so, you could have a much worse problem, and you want to fix that ASAP. But this seems unlikely. Can you remove that insulation and see if there is any evidence of moisture behind?
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bobbotron
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# Posted: 26 Jun 2013 11:17am
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We'd just put the insulation up a week before, there was no signs of water at that point in time. I was up on the outside of the wall last weekend, I cut a small inspection hole in the tyvek (taped it up afterwards) - it looked totally try and rot free to me. Truly strange - we have pine outside that's been wet wet wet for a year or more, it is in fine shape compared to this patch. I'll do a little more investigating, report back!
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bldginsp
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# Posted: 27 Jun 2013 08:43am
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If you were able to peek behind the Tyvek and saw no rot, that's the best indicator of the extent of the rot.
When roofers re-roof a house, the rot they find is usually not visible until they tear off the old roof. You could go in the attic and look around and see nothing, then they tear the roof, and you see all kinds of rot on the outward facing sides of boards and rafters. By the time that kind of rot is visible on the inside, there is a major problem. But sounds like this is not the case at your place, hopefully the problem is just limited to that small area.
Did you jam a probe in the rot? You'll make a mess, but you can't damage the timber any more than it has already been.
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