To All:
I am in the process of finalizing the design on our house (building in No. MN). The plans we have drawn call for a “front porch†running the length (42’) of the building. The porch will be 10’ wide. The porch will provide cover for the main entrance & part of it will be screened-in and accessible from the kitchen through a set of French doors for informal summer dining. The roof-line will transition from 9/12 to 5/12 over the porch.
As the house will sit on ledge rock that is no more than 18†below grade, I am thinking it might be easiest to just have the mason lay an additional 3 block walls (2 ten footers and one 42’er) and pour the porch floor at the same time as we pour the main house slab. This would be in contrast to pouring 5 or 6 “sonotube†post bases and having a wood floor for the porch floor. It might even be nice to “stencil†& stain the concrete floor to add some interest. The concrete option will probably have a higher intial price tag, but woudl seem to have a longer life…
If the HO approached you and asked this question, which way would you go and why? Remember, we have ledge rock, and the block wall would probably only be 4 courses high.
Thanks for any thoughts….
Pinemarten
Replies
I would go w/ the concrete. We added a front porch to our house a couple years back as part of an addition. Best room in the house. It is concrete and at the same level as the main floor of the house. It should be a broom finish so it is not slippery when wet. I only mention that because you said it would be poured at the same time as the slab. We have considered staining it but have not yet. Easy to clean and no maintenance. The only things I would add are a wood stove and a coon dog. Hope this helps.
J.
Now for the other side of the aisle.... I have a concrete front porch ( ~20'x7') Last year I furred it out and covered it with T&G Mahogany. Now its a front porch! (even has the swing and the rocker)
Either way, wood floor or concrete, I'd still opt for the block wall instead of pier/posts.
For four course high, you are only talking about approx. 156 block being laid. Around here ( Pittsburgh, Pa. region), block costs $1.20 each and block layers charge $1.50 to $2.00 per ...depending on circumstances. Heck, you're looking at around $550 for this work. How "easy" is it to drill into your ledgerock? I bet that's not a picnic!
Build your block wall. If you want a concrete porch, you could fill in with rubble and compacted sand, set some form board perimeters, and pour yourself a porch.
If you want a wood floor, loose one course of block, set a 2x treated mudsill, and run 2X10s from a ledger attached to your house foundation wall out to toward your 42 foot porch block wall.
The only reason I say run 2x10s is because of the height factor. A normal porch floor (concrete) is approx. 4 inches thick. This 4 inches, combined with an 8 inch block, gives you 12 inches to make up out of wood flooring. If your floor decking is, say 3/4 t&G, and your mudsill is a nominal 2x (1-1/2 inches), this leaves you with 9-3/4 inches for joist material. A 2x10 is 9-1/4 inches which would give you a half inch drop from porch deck to house...not a bad transition. Of course, you could use any combination of ways, means, and materials to frame with wood if you are so inclined.
Point is...IMHO I would definately build the block walls regardless. If you opt for a wood floor, make the porch a crawl space/under porch storage area if you like. Allow for cross ventilation to keep wood from rotting.
If it was my porch, I'd go concrete all the way, and forget about it. A concrete porch (if done right) should last forever....wood, not nearly so long...and wood requires a lot more maintenance.
Good luck with your plans.
Davo
Here's a dyed and stamped conc. porch floor. Might give you something to get an idea out of. Best of luck on your project.
__________________________________________
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
Concrete is better. I am refitting a house with a concrete porch floor, it was so much better to use house jacks instead of doubled up 2x,s to change the posts over.
Any chance this porch might turn into a 4 season sunroom or something? I've decided to never pour a slab without radiant tubes in it...ya just never know.
Just a thought...