Back porch project, in progress

[mkeller234]

When we bought our home, we bought it "as-is". It was a foreclosure, and we were reminded through the process, that it was "as-is". It was not as easy to get financing due to some of the issues. Anyway, I would say the back porch was probably the worst part of the house. Which is a shame, because even in it's sad condition, it was a really cool room. Our hope was that we would restore the existing porch, but soon discovered that the corner 4x4 and nearest panels were completely rotten through. It was so rotten, that I actually dug through the entire corner with my bare hand. I did find storm door panels that I liked as replacements; solid poplar, with 12light windows and screens for summer. Too bad those doors were over 400 dollars each, and I needed 10 of them. I settled for standard size wooden screen doors instead. The sides are 80x36in doors and the third wall has 32in doors. We framed the porch with treated 4x4 posts, 2x4 studs and some 1x4 boards to eat the extra space. Underneath each door panel is a 2x8 that my dad cut to match the angle of the concrete foundation. He used a stacked dado blade to cut a grove that the doors fit into. We still need to fit trim on both sides of each panel, make a door, pick a color, etc. We will probably use a solid state to finish it off, but my wife and I like very different options at the moment.

This picture shows the south side of the porch from when we bought the home:
IS-sppae59dedlp by mkeller234, on Flickr

This picture was taken the first year that we owned the home:
10597829496_048588bcd0_z by mkeller234, on Flickr

The corners replaced, and the first stud and panels in place. This took us nearly a week!
Porch by mkeller234, on Flickr

This was taken after one wall was in place:
20150702_065114 by mkeller234, on Flickr

This corner ended up being a lot of work for my Dad. The 36in and 32in doors were built a little differently and did not line up very nicely at the corners. Not to be defeated, my dad removed the top brace and moved it to line up all of the doors. We still need to add trim that will hold the doors in place, so we just have little pieces of old trim doing the job for now.
20150705_195226 by mkeller234, on Flickr

20150705_195311 by mkeller234, on Flickr

20150705_195203 by mkeller234, on Flickr

[SkipW]

Cute porch!

Painting will be a lot of fun when it come time for it ;-}

I have just signed a contract to paint the house in the picture...the front porch is made from fourteen (14!) screen doors...I'm not looking forward to that part.....

[heartwood]

I think your new porch looks great and will offer you years of enjoyment...that said, I wonder why you didn't restore the existing porch windows? maybe they too were rotted beyond repair? may I make a suggestion? if you are able, remove the doors and prime and paint them prior to permanent installation then paint a second (even better a third) coat once they are installed....that way your investment in the porch will be there for the long run....

good luck!
...jade

[mkeller234]

Jade: yeah, they doors and windows were really rotten. I did not take pictures, but 3 of the window frames blew in during a wind storm. There was a lot of plywood screwed to the interior to hold it all together. One whole corner, including the 4x4 had no solid wood at least a foot from the bottom.

[Don M]

Nice job; the porch looks great!

[phil]

wow it looks like a very comfortable space inside now and makes the house look so much better from the outside too. I like the design of the frames.
Phil

[Nicholas]

That is a cool looking porch, are you going to paint it? I think it looks great as is, would consider a wood stain instead.

[bfarwell]

That looks really great! I can feel the breeze from here!

[mkeller234]

We weren't planning on paint, but we are considering an opaque stain. Our guess is that the opaque stain will have a longer life and will be easier to apply and maintain. We are definitely going to stain the door panels outside of the framing. That will be a while, I have heard that treated wood needs time.

Now that the porch will be a livable space, I am really looking forward to sprucing up the rest of the back. Lots of work left to do on our home, would LOVE to remove the siding.