Empty Nest, Soon wrote:
Drilling holes will be no benefit. You will probably be removing good wood and the thinned epoxy will still only penetrate by a tiny fraction of an inch. Kill the rot with TimBor or anti-freeze. Explore with an awl to ensure that no rot lies slightly below the surface. If all seems good, the deeply buried wood is probably fine. Drill a few exploratory holes if you must to satisfy yourself that the remaining wood is good. Then fill the holes so they don’t collect water. There’s no point in making Swiss cheese out of the joist.
I'm glad that you said that, because I've been debating how far I wanted to go with trying to strengthen the existing joist. I see the benefit in drilling holes to put in CPES, but it does seem like it would be a trade off since, as you said, I'd be removing good wood in the process.
I think I'll get as much antifreeze on it as I can. Then I'll replace the worst of the rot with good wood, and put CPES in the holes that I drill for the sister joist. That will at least give the screws something solid to bite into if there is any rot in the middle.
I feel like I have a battle plan! Going to tackle it tonight. Will let you guys know how it goes.
