September 20, 2015

A Little Progress on the Front Porch

It's been awhile since I've mentioned working on the front porch (because it's been awhile since we've made any progress on it!) Once we got the bay window in, we concentrated on finishing the window interior and then finishing up the living room. Last weekend, Dan made a little progress on the front porch, motivated by cooler weather and anticipation of winter.

Of course, now's a fine time to realize that I don't have a proper "before" photo. This one was taken last November, right after Dan finished the new porch floor. 

Dan had removed the screen door when he replaced the porch floor.

This second front porch door accessed the "sun room", which became my studio.

The room that was to become my studio after we moved in

Since there was no wall space in this room, the door ended up being covered with shelves and storage units. Of the door itself, it was ill-fitting and allowed for wind to blow through. When we discussed what to do with this door during our porch brain-storming sessions, I decided I didn't need it. We did discuss replacing it with a window, but finances and the need for wall space ruled that out.

I decided I didn't need the door.

After Dan removed the door he ran a stud down the middle of the opening and covered it with particle board. Here it is from the inside.

I was working in the garden that day, so I did
a poor job of photographing the progress.

The challenge was that the exterior trim on that door wasn't flush with the siding.

On the right, you can see that the old door trim isn't flush with the wall.

The door trim jutted out just an eight of an inch, so Dan made his own furring strips to make up the difference. Our siding went on top of that.

Also you can see that we finally got the porch floor painted.

My job will be to get it primed and painted. We'll finish the rest of the wall plus the trims when we replace the front window in the studio.

Lastly some insulation was added.


That's as far as we'll take it for now. It was an afternoon project that is another step toward a snugger house.

Continued here.

32 comments:

Farmer Barb said...

Isn't it interesting how annoying extra doors can be? Excellent ideas implemented!

jewlz said...

You've got the beginnings of a sweet tea sipping spot for sure! Especially if the new tree to shade the studio dapples that nook too. Makes me miss having a proper porch.

Unknown said...

Good going!

Chickpea said...

I love your porch, I can see myself in a rocking chair on a porch. Sadly we don't really have the weather for them.

Liberal Prepper said...

What got put up to cover the opening is OSB, not particle board; OSB, oriented strand board, is the standard material for sheathing.

Leigh said...

When my daughter vacationed is Charleston SC this past summer, she said many of the historic houses there have decorative doors that lead to nowhere. Strange, huh?

Leigh said...

That's one of my peach trees! The porch was originally screened in, but we decided not to replace the screen any time soon.

Leigh said...

Thanks!

Leigh said...

Unfortunately, this porch gets the brunt of the setting summer sun. Even in shade it's hotter than blazes out there. Sad, because I love a nice porch, but not one too hot to enjoy.

Leigh said...

You're correct. Technically it was OSB board that he used. When I wrote the post he was at work, and for the life of me, I couldn't think of what the stuff was called, hence I used particle board. Ironically, the standard definition for OSB is "engineered particle board", LOL.

Dawn said...

We have an extra door we dont use I might now consider get rid of it when we re-build the utility room, it will make your place nice and cosy without the door good choice not having a window :-)

Mark said...

Once again, it looks great! You mentioned that porch opens to the west, which means that door-now-wall looks to the north. In our part of the country the cold weather blows in from that direction. If its the same there, having that "breezy" doorway all sealed up should make the house quite a bit more cozy on the cold winter days!

DFW said...

I think it's looking great. We have been contemplating closing up the front door at our Country House. We, or no one else, EVER uses it. But I think we'll just keep the door but close it off from the inside. There are a couple of houses on the drive there that intentionally didn't put in a front door & theylook strange, very unwelcoming.

Renee Nefe said...

I would LOVE to get rid of the door off of my laundry room, but hubby says no. :( I do suppose that the door could be used for hanging clothes out doors (if the HOA allowed it) but for now I have a bunch of stuff piled in front of the door. :-/
Your porch is coming along. Nice to see the progress. Hubby is outside now painting our front porch railing...he's been removing chips, sanding, filling and painting the house a bit at a time. Not my project so I haven't documented it. I'm soon to make some historical clothing.

Chris said...

I love all the little details - the wood pile being set up for winter (good location, close to the fireplace), the sealing of the door in readiness for winter, and I even love that cute little cupboard in your study. It reminds me of some of the older houses we lived in formerly. They had all these built in cupboards, dotted around the house. I guess because people didn't own much furniture, in the days the houses were being built.

Looking good though. :)

Cozy Thyme Cottage said...

I don't know how you keep from getting stressed with all you have to do on your little homestead. Even with our fairly new house things are not perfect. Progress is inch by inch I guess. Nancy

Leigh said...

When we first looked at the house I liked the idea of a door there. Then I went to make the room usable and realized how little wall space there was. Dan mentioned I could cover some of the windows, but i said no to that! The room has three walls of windows, so another one really wouldn't add anything. Wall space adds a lot!

Leigh said...

I wish I'd gotten a photo of the gaps that were in that door! They were the worst I'd ever seen. Our best breezes come into the front of the house rather than that side. A must for that room is a nice energy efficient window for the front facing wall, with a screen.

Leigh said...

I think it's good to have two doors to a house, just in case the need for evacuation arises, but our house has four doors going outside! Well, three now. :)

Leigh said...

It's too bad you can't have a clothes line! I love mine.

I take it the historical clothing is for a play!

Leigh said...

It's the only room with a closet that wasn't actually built-in. The two bedrooms had closets built-in, but this one was an add-on. I'm guessing this was because they had three kids and used this room as a bedroom. In fact, the house was listed as a 3-bedroom home because of that closet. I contemplate taking it out, but I like the storage space.

Leigh said...

It's funny, but having a list of undone projects is what's stressful! It's a relief to get things like this done. :) I only wish we could make progress faster.

M.K. said...

Very nice! It's so good to get back to projects after a period of time has passed. I'm also motivated by cooler weather. The floor is a great color.

Donna OShaughnessy said...

Well done both of you! We used to live in a home built in 1895 and we were always always ALWAYS fighting the weather. Your new old doorway will soon be snug I'm sure. Nice job

Unknown said...

We have a door in our en-suite that leads outside. Its glass so it lets in light. When we built the house i always imagined a garden room that i could read in as part of the master suite but it never happened. Now it leads out onto the large pergola and if i shut the door to bedroom the en-suite becomes a handy bathroom to the entertaining space so they dont have to traipse through the house. Certainly wasnt planned but its handy.

Ed said...

I had a similar situation with a door in my garage in the half stall space where one would expect to store things. It was right in the middle of the wall. I thought long and hard about removing a door but finally I ended up doing what you did and I've never regretted it. I love my wall space!

Leigh said...

Thanks! We always seem to focus on the house in winter. I suppose that's partly because the weather isn't conducive for gardening and such.

Leigh said...

Donna, I fear we'll never be completely satisfied with the energy efficiency of our old house. At least we can make improvements and they really do help!

Leigh said...

It's nice when things work out that way. And it's always interesting how first ideas evolve once one lives in the space. I do like your idea of the pergola.

Leigh said...

Doors (and storage space) can be handy, but so is wall space!

Karen@ onthebanksofsaltcreek.com said...

Snugger is good in my book. We replaced our furnace two weeks ago because the owner/builder put a furnace in that was not large enough for the house. That and the firewood my guys split this weekend should make me not cold all winter. It looks great and I know you will appreciate it.

Leigh said...

Those huge purchases to have to make, but heat is necessary! We replaced our HVAC unit early on, because the old one was at the end of it's service life and not to code. The problem we had was that those who came out to do estimates for installation all looked at the house and assumed no insulation. However, here, they install for A/C rather than heat (we're in the South, ya' know). So as a heat pump, it never did heat worth a hoot. With all the energy efficiency improvements we've made, I think the unit is now oversized! Last summer we did without air conditioning anyway, so there it sits. But at least we've got it!