Dan has made a start on the new back porch. One of the things he did in preparation was to watch dozens of Youtube videos of other peoples' builds. The conclusion was that there are dozens of ways to do it!
One of my first questions was whether Dan was going to remove the existing block and concrete porch. He said no way. Instead, it's becoming part of the support system for the new porch.
For the footer in the photo below, he was able to dig down before placing it.
They gray powder in the above photo is dry cement. This currently seems to be a very popular way of filling post holes, so Dan is giving it a try here. The idea is that rain and soil moisture harden it.
On the driveway side of the porch, the soil is packed down hard with gravel. Our driveway isn't paved, but gravel. Over the decades traffic packs down the stone and new loads are applied on top. Stones are pushed into the soil for who knows how deep. It was impossible to dig for a footer there.
In the above pic, Dan was able to level an area to set the concrete footer block on top. He adjusted the length of the post to keep the floor level.
And lastly, bridging.
Our choices for getting to the back door are to either crawl under the framing and then try to squirm our way between the joists to get up the steps, or use a ladder.
There are a couple of pieces of plywood to walk on to get from the ladder to the concrete porch. It's a bit awkward, so the next step will be to build the new porch staircase.
It is looking very good Leigh! One has to become creative when it comes to old houses.
ReplyDeleteI can see that Dan has an helper!
Rosalea, thanks! Dan actually has several helpers, all providing the necessary snoopervision. :)
DeleteThat will be such a wonderful space!
ReplyDeleteLaurie, yes, it will definitely be more useful and practical than the old porch. I'm sure it served the occupants needs, but we will enjoy this one so much more!
DeleteMy deck was built over a concrete stoop and steps. So there was the issue of the downspout discharge needing to be extended to light. I, too, used the plastic ribbed extender you show, but eventually it failed due to the ridges filled up with ice and debris, holes developed in those ridges, and critters managed to move the tube away from the downspout. Eventually had to permanently attach a run of aluminum spouting (seam side up, freezes up here) to light as we had to close in the underdeck to keep out groundhogs. And I no longer have to crawl under there and deal with the spiders! Dan is so creative on the various footing installations. Is there nothing he can't do? Take care, Kris in Ohio.
ReplyDeleteKris, good feedback. Those are things Dan was concerned about too (except the ice part), so he decided to move the downspout to the other side of the porch. That way we can get to it for maintenance and not have to crawl under the porch! He'll be glad to hear his hunch is correct.
DeleteFacebook is a double edged sword these days. It still can be a good resource but I am finding it more and more like Facebook or other social media sites, highly edited and stylized. In other words, some are showing how to do things with no idea of how bad their advice it. But I'm sure Dan is savvy enough to weed through them and find those that truly offer good advice.
ReplyDeleteEd, I think most of the internet is like that nowadays. I think people who post project videos ought to come back in 3 and 5 year intervals and report on how well their ideas worked. What would they do differently? But as you say, experience helps a lot here. Mostly Dan stuck with conventional techniques, leaving the trendy faddish stuff for somebody else. :)
DeleteWell, I see that you are correct; Blogger does not include this latest post of yours in my Reading List! Now to click on down through the long list of the blogs I follow to see what other posts I'm missing out on.
ReplyDeleteMichelle, as far as I can tell, neither the reading list nor the blog widget are updating. I hope they fix it soon.
DeleteLeigh, I also tried to delete some blogs that have been dormant for over a decade from my Reading List, and Blogger wouldn't cooperate on that, either. I try not to get frustrated since Blogger is free and I have appreciated having it for 20(?) years....
ReplyDeleteMichelle, of course I had to give that a try, but deletes seemed to go well. I agree about trying not to get frustrated, especially since in the grand scheme of all things internet, blogspot is likely not of much importance compared to other projects. I do sometimes wonder if they'll discontinue it someday, but I sincerely hope not.
DeleteLooks good to my completely untrained eye , Leigh.
ReplyDeleteI, too, enjoy the pictures of the "supervisors"....
TB, definitely so far so good. And what would we do without supervisors. :)
DeleteLooking good so far and it will be nice when it is finished
ReplyDeleteCarol, thanks! I know we will enjoy it.
DeleteThose are not supervisors. They are "inspectors"!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, and they do inspect everything!
DeleteWow! I've been held captive by my canner pot, and just now getting caught up with reading your blog. My goodness. Looks great too.
ReplyDeleteKristina, end of summer is a busy time! Dan has been making excellent progress. :)
DeleteThat is looking so good!
ReplyDeleteThanks Dicky Bird!
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