Earlier this year I wrote out my project list based on what I thought we could afford to do this year and what the highest priority items where. The first item on the list was the raised beds for the vegetable garden. That project was more labor than money as I used locally available rocks to make the beds and a few yards of crushed stone for the walkways. Not too hard on the bank account.
The next item on the list was to build a shed. With the high cost of gas, food, etc, we have to look closely at the family budget to see what we can afford. The shed may get pushed back to next year in favor of fixing the front of our house.
I started removing the old front deck, basically because the thing was about to fall off of the house. The builders used improper hardware for pressure treated lumber and all of the nails are rusting through. The whole thing will likely collapse under one more heavy snow fall, which we seem to receive quite often around here. Rather than have the “Front door to nowhere” look, I want to replace the deck with a covered porch that runs along the front half of the house. Of course, this is a much bigger project than I initially thought.
I did a couple of really quick drawings using google sketchup. I will have to go back and fix them up for the building permit, basically my idea is something like this:
The porch would be 8-10 feet wide, running about 24 feet along the front of the house. There would be one step on the end. The roof would hip into the house roof about 1/2 way between the edge and the peak. I will have to measure, but I believe that span would be about 14-16 feet long. I believe the porch roof will require 2 x 10 or even 2 x 12 lumber. The porch and roof would be supported by 6×6 posts on 12 inch footing to a depth of 48 inches.
I believe this would greatly improve the front of our house and once this is done, we can get the siding done and all of that will much improve the curb appeal if we decide to sell. This would be the view if one were walking up the path from the drive way, just about to step onto the porch. Of course, I will put shutters on the windows, and perhaps some hanging plants, a bench or some Adirondack Chairs, etc.
The other project for this summer is going to be a photovoltiac system. The cost of electricity just keeps going up and up. While the solar hot water is doing great (our electric bill for May/June is 50% of last year’s bill) I would like to reduce that even further.
The shed will have to wait until next year.
Paul,
What is the pitch of the existing roof? If the existing roof pitch is rather low, you may run into a problem with the new porch roof being extremely flat. You should try drawing a cross-section through the house and proposed porch to get a better idea. That porch will really improve the curb appeal. You can buy nice white vinyl sleeves to put over 6×6′s. Let me know if you need any design ideas or help.
Todd,
The roof pitch is fairly shallow, 4:12 I think. My idea was to make the porch 6 inches lower than the finished floor of the house and make the porch ceiling 7.5 feet instead of 8. that will buy a foot or so. I would like to keep the pitch no less than 3:12 if at all possible.
I will do some more work on the cross section diagram and see what I can come up with. I need to do that for the permit anyway.