Decks, Patios, Porches and Docks - Porch help - cement and wood sealant

I have separate cement stairs that lead onto my front porch. There is a wood panel in front of the porch that leads down to the first concrete stair - basically it is the same width of the stair. The wood goes right down to where it meets the concrete, but there is a small gap along the whole width of the stair where water can seep in between the base of the wood panel and the concrete stair. Is there a recommended method and materials to seal this space to prevent water from leaking into the house?

If I'm understanding correctly, your front porch is one step (about 7") above the concrete step, and is basically a wood deck. What's under it? How's water getting into the house? The foundation of the house SHOULD be back under the front door, at least 3' away from the concrete step. What am I missing?

Unfortunately the foundation is not back at the front door - it lines up on the same line as the front of the porch -- so the stairs are in effect right up against the foundation. However, since the porch is now in that area, any water goes right into the middle of the porch, and then down to the sheetrock and into the basement. Does that make sense?

What you are saying makes sense. Why it was built that way doesn't!

If you remove the board, is there enough room to slide a piece of flashing between the concrete step and the outside of the foundation? (You only need a 1/16" or so.) If there is, do that. If there isn't room, then use a 1-1/2" by 2" (or larger) piece of metal roof edge. Remove the board, install the roof edge with the 1-1/2" side on the concrete step and attach the larger side to the framing behind the board. Run a small bead of roof mastic (Henry's, Black Jack, etc.) on the concrete and and set the roof edge piece in that.

Once you have the flashing in place, replace the board, making sure that you caulk the ends and the top edge of it with paintable caulking.