New screened porch and no eaves

17 years ago

I have a quick question for those more savvy homeowners. We just recently added a screened in section of approx. 16X20 onto our existing 16X45 deck. Everything is great, including the a-framed roof, with the exception of the fact that the builder forgot to put eaves on the new structure.

I've installed gutters myself hoping this would fix the problem, and while it does its job, it does not compensate for the lack of eaves. There is about a 1 ft perimeter inside the screened portion where it's soaking wet and the screen itself is wet.

What should I do? Is there anything I can add myself to help fix the problem? I'm considering demanding the builder come back out and fix it but I'm not sure that will do any good because he has his money. Thanks for any and all help you can provide.

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Comments (4)

john_hyatt
17 years ago
There is no " O Man I forgot to put the eaves on" If its in the contract Demand It. John
huskyridor
17 years ago
This is an awkward after the fact position for a buyer to be in.
You really should have brought it up to the carpenters attention during construction.
I'm not taking his side, rather just pointing out what I feel he'll have to offer.
Roof overhang is most likely not mentioned in your agreement (contract) and is probably not referred to on the final plan.
For your sake I hope it is because my guess is he'll use this as an out to not come back and redo it without additional charges.
Most homes and covered porches are constructed with 12 to 18 inches of overhang. However, some homes and porches are constructed with zero overhang.
Without roof overhang being specifically mentioned in the contractual agreement or referred to on the final plan there's nothing binding him to be obligated to construct the improvement to include it.

It's probably not what you wanted to hear.
I'm just giving you my .02

See Ya,
Kelly
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rphagan
Original Author
17 years ago
All of this is good and well and I agree, but it doesn't give me any ideas on what to do now.

I've since spoken with the builder, a very sensible man, and he made a good point about how the eaves would have negatively affected construction. His point was that if he added the eaves to match the existing home it would have lowered the inside height of the porch, which we didn't want, and honestly, it wouldn't have matched up with the house as well. I had to agree with him.

Now, on to the more important topic of what do I do to help control the water infiltration? I have 6" gutters installed. Do I wait it out and see what happens once the trees leaf out in Spring because the area of the porch is highly shaded? Thanks for any and all help you can provide.
huskyridor
17 years ago
Do your gutters tuck in behind the existing drip flashing?
If not, you could probably work a larger piece of drip flashing under the shingle, fasten it to the decking, and run the leading edge over the gutters nearside edge. You'd probably have to cut it with snips where the flashing intersects the big gutter nail because it's going on after the installation.

See ya,
Kelly