West facing wooden porch floor surrounded on 3 sides by brick, one side being the house the other 2 being knee walls/railing, the 4th side is the stairs.

Porch boards run perpendicular to home and have a nice fall away from the house but have all gotten puny/soft at the end grain where they end up against the brick knee wall. We will make sure the new boards we are laying will end a little short and cover gap w/quarter round.

The knee wall does have 2 "spigots", decorative type pieces for dranage of the surface water after a rain. Just wondering if there is anything we can do besides, sealing the end grain, maximize airflow, etc. to help protect the end grain.

Unfortuntaly his wife did not want a composite material.


Thanks

Having a little trouble visualizing what you have described. You said boards run perpendicular to the house, could you have meant parallel?

I assume you are talking about tongue and groove boards, not deck boards. Are you using pressure treated material.

Sealing the ends and silicone between the quarter round and the board will help but the ends will decay first because they absorb the most water. Treated material would be best. One problem with treated material is that paint will not last very long if subjected too much direct sunlight.

The boards do run perpendicular, (away) from the home and the steps up to the front porch are on the side. Using Douglas Fir tongu-n-groove. Will be painted and primed, ( 4-sides)

Surely you meant 6 sides including the ends. It would be best to use CPES and epoxy on the ends. This could extend the life of the boards to 75-100 years if the paint is maintained. Check out Rot Doctors website.