The porch looked well-maintained,
spruced up with yearly paint jobs. The
owners just wanted us to check out a
minor problem—a broken decorative
bracket. We soon discovered, however,
that everything above eye level was
held up by trim, and everything below
our feet threatened to collapse.
Naively, the owners had hired people
to do a yearly camouflage job to cover
up water stains on the porch ceiling
and floor. They also hired a guy to
come out every six months and jack
the porch roof back up. No one had
told them the porch had major problems.
On a large porch like this, you
can't repair just one or two places. You
have to work on it