Building a New Porch

[Gerowen]

I don't know if this counts as a hobby or not, but over the past couple weeks I've been taking time after work to build a new porch.  We started out with an 8x8 foot deck, but wanted it to be bigger and have a roof, so I cut the posts off at the top of the ground and hauled the old deck down to the pool and it's going to be a pool deck for our above ground pool.  We started eyeballing what an appropriate size would be and I wanted to keep to a multiple of 8.  My trailer is 8 feet long inside length, so that's the longest pieces I can haul at one time without having pieces stick out the front or sides or something, and I wanted to be able to leave the lumber on there overnight with a tarp over it so that it had a good flat surface to lay on to try and prevent it from warping.  I also wanted to do minimal cutting.  16 feet split the living room window in two, 24 feet split the bedroom window so we opted to just start more or less where the old one was and go 32 feet which lands just an inch or two shy of the end of the house.

This evening I finished up the floor.  I still have to put up fresh lattice-work underpinning, raise and properly level both sets of steps, build railings and a roof, but as of today we have a 8x32 foot deck, which will hopefully become a covered porch by the end of the summer.  The longest part of it was making sure it was square and level because I cemented the 4x4 support posts two feet into the ground with concrete, so I had to make sure everything was right before I started filling those post holes with concrete, because there is no fixing it after that.  But that also means it'll be a lot stronger and more rigid.  Also, for strength, and to give myself a wider surface for the ends of the deck boards to meet on, I used two 2x8s instead of one to make a "double" joist.

You'll have to ignore the mess.  We had to dig up bushes, move big landscaping timbers I had laying around and the white plastic was a failed attempt to prevent weeds from coming up in a flower bed.  We had a shelf on the old deck that we just kinda threw out on the ground in front until we got everything finished.  The straw on the ground is because our dog, Lurch, for some reason, decided he likes sleeping under the porch more than he likes sleeping in his dog house, so since his days are about 50/50 inside and out, I figured when he's outside the straw would act as a moisture barrier in the summer and an insulator in the winter to help keep him warm.  I put a fresh bale under there and in his dog house a couple times a year.

Also, our great dane "Lurch" absolutely loves having more space to walk around and lay down.

[Steven P. Administrators]

I remember you!

 Looks great, interested to see the updates!  

[Gerowen]

On 14/05/2023 at 15:06, Steven P. said:

I remember you!

 Looks great, interested to see the updates!  

That's awesome you remembered. Yeah it's hard to believe we've already been here like 5-6 years. Time sure flies. I'm gonna take a month or so off working on the porch and pay our bills up for a couple months ahead of time, that way I can spend lots of money at once to try and get the roof finished all at once when I start instead of doing it little pieces at a time and hoping the wood doesn't warp as it dries before I have everything all put together. Once I start on the roof I'd like to be able to just buckle down and spend whatever I need to spend and knock it out in a week or so.

 

The idea is to have a nice big covered porch so we can sit out and listen to the birds and drink coffee in the mornings, maybe even have our laptops or whatever out there, but not have to worry about rain or other inclement weather.

[TruckerJay]

On 14/05/2023 at 07:43, Gerowen said:

I don't know if this counts as a hobby or not, but over the past couple weeks I've been taking time after work to build a new porch.  We started out with an 8x8 foot deck, but wanted it to be bigger and have a roof, so I cut the posts off at the top of the ground and hauled the old deck down to the pool and it's going to be a pool deck for our above ground pool.  We started eyeballing what an appropriate size would be and I wanted to keep to a multiple of 8.  My trailer is 8 feet long inside length, so that's the longest pieces I can haul at one time without having pieces stick out the front or sides or something, and I wanted to be able to leave the lumber on there overnight with a tarp over it so that it had a good flat surface to lay on to try and prevent it from warping.  I also wanted to do minimal cutting.  16 feet split the living room window in two, 24 feet split the bedroom window so we opted to just start more or less where the old one was and go 32 feet which lands just an inch or two shy of the end of the house.

This evening I finished up the floor.  I still have to put up fresh lattice-work underpinning, raise and properly level both sets of steps, build railings and a roof, but as of today we have a 8x32 foot deck, which will hopefully become a covered porch by the end of the summer.  The longest part of it was making sure it was square and level because I cemented the 4x4 support posts two feet into the ground with concrete, so I had to make sure everything was right before I started filling those post holes with concrete, because there is no fixing it after that.  But that also means it'll be a lot stronger and more rigid.  Also, for strength, and to give myself a wider surface for the ends of the deck boards to meet on, I used two 2x8s instead of one to make a "double" joist.

You'll have to ignore the mess.  We had to dig up bushes, move big landscaping timbers I had laying around and the white plastic was a failed attempt to prevent weeds from coming up in a flower bed.  We had a shelf on the old deck that we just kinda threw out on the ground in front until we got everything finished.  The straw on the ground is because our dog, Lurch, for some reason, decided he likes sleeping under the porch more than he likes sleeping in his dog house, so since his days are about 50/50 inside and out, I figured when he's outside the straw would act as a moisture barrier in the summer and an insulator in the winter to help keep him warm.  I put a fresh bale under there and in his dog house a couple times a year.

Also, our great dane "Lurch" absolutely loves having more space to walk around and lay down.

Nice one! Reminds me of my hunting shed I've built( my wife kept telling me not to keep all my hunting stuff (i.e I've got like 5 rifles from  https://gritrsports.com/shooting/firearms/ and a few shotguns+reloading gear from Cabelas mainly) in the garage. Had to figure out how to build stuff pretty quick  

Nice build! Did you reinforce beams with concrete? I've made similar base for my shed(it's in the lower part of backyard so a lot of water, hence why I've decided to reinforce it, a lot of soil movement during rainy days).

[Gerowen]

On 26/06/2023 at 07:37, TruckerJay said:

Nice build! Did you reinforce beams with concrete? I've made similar base for my shed(it's in the lower part of backyard so a lot of water, hence why I've decided to reinforce it, a lot of soil movement during rainy days).

Yeah the 4x4 uprights are cemented about 2 feet into the ground.  That's part of the reason it took me so long to actually start putting the flooring down.  Sure, just setting them on blocks would have been easier, but I wanted that increased lateral rigidity from being able to add those corner braces against 4x4 uprights that were cemented in place.  But, once you pour that concrete, you're stuck with whatever you've got.  If it's crooked, not level, out of square, etc., you're just stuck with it, so I spent about 3 days after work getting the joists in and double/triple checking for level and square before I started pouring the concrete.