Work order line 05: Exterior Repairs
Roof leaks and valleys, rotted fascia, storm-damaged fences, porch columns, railings and decks, repaired by a former general contractor.
Chapter 01
On the outside of a house, almost every failure starts with water in the wrong place. A gutter that dumps at a roof junction. A fascia board that stayed wet until it went soft. Fence posts that took a lightning strike or a storm. Porch columns that rotted from the bottom up.
John Blakemore handles roof leak and valley repairs, fascia boards and gutters, fence repair after storm damage, porch columns and railings, and porch and deck repairs. The question he asks first is not what is broken but where the water is coming from.
Metal roof meeting the shingles at a valley, tools on the roof.
On a lightning-struck vinyl fence, he removed the damaged posts, their foundations and the broken sections, then custom-cut new solid posts on site so they matched the existing layout. Rob Schriver's back fence took a different kind of beating: storm damage knocked out about half of it. John pulled the broken fencing, including concreted-in posts, lined up and squared the new posts and slats, and anchored everything securely. When the hardware store sent the wrong posts, he helped re-order them.
Rebuilt wood is only as good as what holds it, so the framing goes back in treated stock. The detail and the order are the job: find the source, remove everything that has gone soft, then build back.
Chapter 03
The best test of an exterior repair is the first storm after it. John tells you where to look: the roof edge, the valley, the new downspout, the base of the new posts. If water is going where it should, you are done.
Every job carries a 1-year guarantee on all labor, and contracts are only paid in full when the finished work is to your complete satisfaction. Estimates are free around Knoxville and the surrounding counties.
1-year guarantee on all labor. Free estimates. Call or text 865-978-0489.
The steps below follow John’s documented roof, fascia, porch and fence jobs, in the order the work happens.
A long-term laundry-room leak turned out to start outside. The gutter was pitched back toward the shingle roof, so it dumped its load right at the junction where the metal roof meets the shingles. The leak was a symptom. The pitch was the cause.
Soft wood does not hold a screw, so it comes out first. On the fascia job John took 38 feet of continuous gutter down at 12 to 20 feet off the ground and demolished the old fascia. On the roof, the deteriorated sheathing under the valley was cut out and replaced.
New stock goes back where the rot was. New fascia boards, with the drip edge and gutters reinstalled. A re-pitched gutter and a new downspout carrying water away from the shingles. A valley rebuilt using leftover shingles. On the porch, rotten columns were demolished and replaced with new columns and top and bottom rails, reusing the existing balusters.
Stand under the repair during the first heavy rain and watch where the water goes. It should leave the roof edge and the valley the way it was planned to. The work is covered by a 1-year guarantee on all labor, so the first storm is part of the job and not a surprise after it.
“He did some nice work for us.”