Front Porch Project

OK, so the front porch at the house had seen 33 winters as of the 2014 spring.  It was seriously showing its age.  So I removed it when I painted the front of the house last fall.  The weather got too cold to get the new one up last year but its finally happening.

 Front Porch Area

This is the porch area with the old porch removed and sealer on the cement block where the porch will be.  The sealer was followed up with 2 coats of house paint. 

Pressure Treated Porch – Some Assembly Required.

The pressure treated lumber was cut to size and given 2 coats of paint before I started to assemble the porch.  It’s so much easier to paint the wood before its a completed porch.

 Painted Porch Boards

The tricky part was positioning the 4x4 posts and getting the 2x10 front ledger level and squared up to the 2x6 rear ledger.  Everything ended up square and level when it was all said and done but it took a fair amount of time and sweat to get it right.

  Posts and Ledgers in Place

I also leveled the ground beneath the porch area, laid down a vapor barrier, put in landscape edging and filled the porch area with pea gravel.  This looks nice and should deter plants of a thorny kind from growing under and up through the porch.

 Porch Supports Sans Decking and Step

The porch support framing is complete.  Its all nicely square and level.  The white splotches are caulking over the lag bolts to seal them.  I still have to install flashing between the siding and the ledger bolted to the house. 

  Porch with Decking Installed

Here’s the porch with the decking installed.  The silver strip above the decking is flashing.  It will be covered with a section of siding.  I’ve also cut the step risers and given them their 1st coat of paint.  Once the step risers are painted and dry I can install the step.

Finished Porch

The finished porch.  It needs side rails but I haven’t decided just what kind to install as yet.  I will put the side rails up once I’ve installed the new screen door and done some more siding maintenance.