The most important thing is to identify where the water is coming from and stop it. If you have interior walls leaking water you're either looking for a busted pipe or a roof leak

Look good to me. I just redid my 20 year old deck and your joists look cleaner than what I had. I did block them to add stability and now you could land a helicopter on the thing. Definitely consider blocking it. It’s an amazing and cheap huge difference maker

Definitely put epoxy or some sort of clear coat. I used the same kit a few years ago. Looked amazing till about a year in when it started pealing/chipping. I just finished stripping it all back off this weekend.

Okay I'm not a lawyer and I haven't seen your policy but even if the water damage isn't covered, the leaks had to exist before the water damage. Insurance should cover your windows and basement leaks.

Also Google emergency flood treatment in your area. When my kitchen flooded it was a flooring company who did ours but that's bc we only needed new flooring. I imagine many other general home work type companies provide the service

Start with insurance, if you have any.. otherwise this sounds like a job for a carpenter.

I did. He said that water damage isn't covered unfortunately. :-(

You call your home insurance

Sounds like a real... pain in the deck.

I'm sorry, I'll go now.

Why not apply some sealer or stain as well?

Caulk and paint make me the carpenter I ain't.

Seriously, for what you were attempting to do, this is the best answer. Finishing the top of the shelf, add some led channels under the shelf to light it up, those would be nice touches, but caulk and paint should make it presentable.

More than likely you will need a 18'' slab in NY, a 4'' is more like for patios, not for foundations for building structures. Also given the weather in that area you are going to need something that is going to stand up to the cold and snow.

I personally would start by having some people come out and quote me for a new foundation, because you ain't going to do that yourself, it's too much concrete, and then you will get some professional ideas of options you have.

I have an old t connection water pipe where the end of the T is now capped off. The capped end hangs a bit lower making it to I can't enclose or put a cover or that part of the ceiling. Is it easy enough to cut the line and then put a fitting over the two ends of the copper line?

You still need to put trim around the finished door after you put in drywall. There isn't a reason that trim cannot be extra thick. You could put up the drywall, add 2x material or whatever makes up the gap and then add the normal trim on top of that. Then you just paint like normal and the casual observer will not really pay much attention to how it was done. It will look fine from my house.

First thing you need to do is get those joists off grade, six or more inches clearance would be ideal, so air can move through there and stop the rot. Then replace rotted out joist.

Well cool. I came up with idea on my own at one point, but I assumed that it would trap moisture

16" is fine if you're just laying it out straight. 12" spacing is recommended if you're doing diagonal decking at 45°.

Read the label instructions about application temperature.

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I always thought double vapor/water barrier was bad

As soon as possible. And you would be better off getting a product called table top epoxy.

Had the same situation with my deck about 2 years ago.
Pulled all the decking off and pressure washed the joists - they were in great shape except for the ends that were in hangers connected to the ledger. Pressure washer blew through the rot and I could see I needed to replace them all.
Sucked that it was just the last 1-2" of board that ruined it.

Fill your tub with water before you chaulk. If it was installed without proper support it could drop enlarging the gap. So every time you fill it stretches the chaulking causing it to breakdown much quicker.

Use that tape specifically made for this purpose

Pretty much

You’re good. I had some that had rotted when we redid our deck when after we moved in and those we replaced. Put some joist tape if you’re exposing all the joists when you’re removing the boards.