Screened Porches, Decks, Sun Rooms and Porches

This is a "before" picture of the porch. The roof cut right through the trim above the transom, the support columns were flimsy 2 x 4's, the stones at the base had shifted out of level, and the step up to the door threshold was too high. In addition, the seats had deteriorated badly and there was no handrail. Overall, it was pretty dysfunctional and ugly.

There were constraints both horizontally and vertically in making the new porch work. We decided to eliminate the trim above the transom so that the ceiling and roof structure wouldn't be too high, and also to keep the column height down and to scale.

There is a brick path leading up to the porch which was to remain. The location of the path dictated the depth of the porch floor (front to back) and also the height of the path determined the height of the floor. There was just enough room to squeeze in a code-legal set of stairs between the path and the new porch. And the new floor height made for an easier step up to the entry door.

The house was built in the 1850's and the architectural details of the new porch closely match a porch on the front of the house. The treads and risers will be getting paint later in the summer.

circa 1993

We started with this existing deck, beefed up the footings, support posts, and floor joists...

added a floor, walls and windows, and a roof...

and ended with a beautiful and comfortable three season room. Thanks to Brandon Grover, Bob Letourneau and Kevin for their help.

This was a screened porch addition in Northfield. It has an ample roof overhang on all three sides to keep out wind-blown rain.

Here's a shot of the interior. Beaded pine walls and a Douglas fir floor. A breezy bug free paradise.

A shallow hip roof with wide overhangs keeps out the hot summer sun, but lets in the low winter sun.

The interior of the sunroom above has a wide cypress windowsill sealed in spar varnish. Triple track storms are real convenient, and a lot cheaper than full windows.