Hey there. I am new to the forum here, so I will give a brief intro.
First off, I am not a professional builder or carpenter. I am a serious (and occassionally neurotic) renovator. My wife and i are renovating a 1916 bungalow in the Midwest. We are doing everything possible ourselves, more for the experience of it than for the cost savings.
I need some pro advice. I need to put down a new floor on my front porch. The old one is really in bad shape. Current floor is T&G pine, 3 3/4 wide. The porch is covered but not enclosed. It sits atop two rooms in the basement and is bounded by a rock face block wall. The wall keeps water on the porch floor when we get hit with rain or deep snows.
I need to create a floor that will last a lifetime, but also need to keep water out of the basement. My approach was going to use vertical grain doug fir, ipe or cambara. We will be staining and using an oil finish on the floor. I thought I would “breadboard” the ends since water seems to suck right up the end grain against the blocks. Run a bead of sealant top and bottom on the edges against the block wall and house and cover that with a quarter round.
Should I run any kind of subfloor to further protect the basement from water? Won’t that just keep moisture under the floor? Any help is greatly appreciated.