Rotted Corner Porch Column

Hello There,
I have a corner cutout porch as you can see in Picture 4 on the rear of my house.
I just discovered the only column in that corner is rotted. I can push it out if I wanted. I would assume it would be load bearing because it is on a corner and there is a whole 2nd story above it. I pulled off the covering and the rafters go horizontally along the backside of the house. If that makes sense. Sorry all my pics are sideways. I bought a bottle jack to at least support it for now. Should I replace the whole 4x4 or can you cut the rotted part off and splice in a new piece. I am handy but want to be careful with this bc of the uncertainty of the load. Thank You

 

First thing I would suggest, is to poke the post with a screwdriver. Even if the outer part is a little soft, it doesn't mean the entire post is a lost cause...if it's still solid in the middle it still can hold weight. The reason I say that is that Simpson makes adjustable post base for 4x4s and 6x6s, and they are about 1" tall. So let's say your post seems like it's rotten on bottom but if you would cut just 1" off the bottom, it would fit into a Simpson post base perfectly.

To do that you would need to mark where the post is supposed to be located... swing it out of the way (since you said you could easily do that it must not have any weight on it currently) then place the post base down and line it up with your marks. Then drill a hole in the concrete for an appropriate size/type of anchor, drop it in, put the washer and nut on it and tighten it up. Then put the plate cover back into the post base and swing the post back into place and fasten it using all the holes provided. (If it's tight you will need to jack the overhang up with a bottle jack until it does swing into place.)

If you were exaggerating when you said you could just push the post out of the way, and it is still solid (has weight on it) then you should jack up and temporarily support at least some part of the load above. If it swings freely, it currently has no weight on it, even though it should.

 

Since you can push the post out. I would just replace the whole post because it's much easier. Just pull out the old one and put a new pressure treated one of the correct length in it's place.

 

Thank you for the replies. The post is rotted all the way through. When I replace it.. how will I know the correct length of the 4x4 because it’s so rotted at the bottom?

 

I would use a tape measure. All you are doing is measuring the distance between 2 points. You could check the framing each direction to see if it's level both ways or if it has sagged. If it has sagged, I would imagine you should jack it up until is IS level. Then measure the post height.

And I would assume you will want to use some sort of Simpson post bracket at the top to make a good connection. I don't see any pics that show the top of the post. But it might be something like a Simpson BCS2-2/4Z.

 

First I would stand back and look at that corner of the house and go in the rooms above and look carefully for any signs of sagging. If there is no sagging then I would cut your new post for a snug fit. If there has been sagging you'll need to measure how much that corner has dropped and include that in your post length to return everything to level.

When installing a post I usually jack up the house slightly with a hydraulic bottle jack. Insert the post, then let the house down on top of it.