The attached is a photo of my 1950’s era home in Maryland. I’d like to put a small porch on the front… over the stone steps. I’d like to do a gable style porch [matching the slope of the roof] over the stonework [approx 6′ wide, 4′ deep]. I’ve thought about using 45 degree bracketing to support the overhang… but recently thought about small posts and side railing…. will it overpower this relatively small house… anyone have any ideas or even pictures to share? The existing lights will be removed w/ the new porch.
-Ryan
Replies
This what you're talking about?
Edit: sorry. I really gotta re download Irfanview.
"Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things, I am tempted to think -- there are no little things" - Bruce Barton
Edited 3/31/2006 11:11 pm by RW
Whoa! That is awesome! Yes... that is exactly what I'm kicking around [my wife really digs the stone idea] ... the other variables are brackets or columns... closed gable or open [or arched] ... and railings on the side... or not.
RW- thanks for taking the time to create that view... it really helped to convince me that a porch w/ columns won't overpower the front of the house. Thanks again-
-Ryan
open with a rail
Beauty of Sketchup. Five minutes of messing around is enough to give a decent visual idea. Not much time expended. "Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things, I am tempted to think -- there are no little things" - Bruce Barton
What is that design program you are using?
I am an old die-hard 3D CAD user, and my program is Cadkey 97. Pretty much like AutoCad. OK rendering function.
But not as cool as Sketchup. I see you are able to take a photo, index off a defined plane, and build from there. Wow!
How long did it take you to get functional with Sketchup? I have been considering it.
Gene I'm a convert. This thing is dead simple, and I am not very computer savvy. I downloaded the thing - they'll give you a functional version to mess with for 8 hours to see if you want to buy - and about 4 hours into playing with it I bought it.
I was sketching simple houses within a couple of days
I was doing design stuff for a builder within a week
its that stinkin simple
the stuff above, literally, 5 minutes. I saw the question, the photo, I said hmm, line here, line there, pull this that way, put some stone on, save. Bout that fast.
Other thoughts. You can spend days on a design pretty easy. I dont want you to think a house goes up in an hour. But its not CAD. You can import CAD files, or dxf, dwg, 3ds, xml . . . if you want to, but its just all based on geometric forms. Honestly, I could talk all day and not really explain what I'm trying to. Try the thing out. Its free, after all.
oh . . . and no, I am definately not Bob Walker, lol. I think he'd be mighty incensed at the suggestion."Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things, I am tempted to think -- there are no little things" - Bruce Barton
RW-
Any chance you could do one last "sketch-up"? Matt and I have been kicking around some design ideas and have come up w/ stone columns... transitioning to stone veneer over the gable front of the porch.... in an arch. I tried to attach a really basic sketch but can't get it to post... Got a couple extra minutes? That program is awesome!
-Ryan
email sent
(if you dont get that, you'll get this at least)
"Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things, I am tempted to think -- there are no little things" - Bruce Barton
now you got me tootin around with PS"Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things, I am tempted to think -- there are no little things" - Bruce Barton
Is that Bob Walker doing the E-design work? If so, good job, Bob!
The addition of the front porch roof I think will be a real plus both from functional and aesthetics standpoints.
BTW - I like that siding. Are you sure you don't live in the back country area some where? :-)
Re your Q here are my related thoughts: You have a rather large front facing gable - ie the roof pitch is fairly steep (12:12?) I don't think you have to worry about overpowering the front of the house at all, but, personally I wouldn't install too spindly of a pair of columns. A rule of thumb for column sizing is 1 inch of diameter (width) for each foot of height - so, if the porch beam height is to be 8' above the porch surface, then you would use 8" columns. 1/2 high columns (like are shown in RW's drawing can even be thicker. IMO, in most cases, 4x4 posts just says "cheap".
Another though: I like the idea of the stone columns bases too (depending on what style of exterior you are going for), but the reality of it might be that you do not have enough room. Generally a masonry column would be a minimum of 12" wide, which might constrict the traffic flow a bit on that modest size of a front porch.
Along those lines, as the house is now, you kind of have a blank slate and can take your home's exterior in several design directions with just a few well thought out and coordinated exterior details, which could really make your "1950's era home" have some major curb appeal beyond new siding and a covered entry.
Your comment about the corbeled brackets supporting the proposed front porch roof would be kind of a craftsman or maybe even "cabin" look, but I don't think these style would be consistent with arched top windows and oval shaped door (which I assume are new) and the narrow eave overhangs.
How about kind of an English cottage style look? This would go with the arch windows and the stone chimney & porch. Running with that thought, how about some board and batten siding on the large front gable and the front gable of the proposed porch. Maybe some board shutters: http://www.decorativeshutters.com/shop_cart/vinyl_1.php?shutter=Board%20and%20Batten on the front gable window? Not sure if the proposed porch gable is large enough, but a clipped gable might go along these lines... Or as long as we are spending your money :-), stone columns/arch supporting the front porch roof - maybe not enough room? Too bad the front bank of windows are so close - otherwise you could go with an asymmetrical swooped gable porch roof which would definitely push the house in that design direction. Diamond mutton windows fit, if you could order that style of muttons for the new (?) windows...
Or maybe a bit of a Tutor flavor?
BTW - what is the siding material to be? Hardi plank/wood/etc is a bit more flexible in the design area, partially because the unlimited number of colors you can paint it, but some good looks can be achieved with vinyl too...
Another thought - when you add the front porch, it would be way better to cut into the house and set the porch beams in beam pockets as opposed to just tacking stuff on the outside of the house...
Edited 4/1/2006 10:43 am ET by Matt
Matt-
Thanks for the ideas... I've spent all afternoon looking at pics online to get a feel for your suggestions.
I do plan to use hardi ... and was planning on just triming the windows w/ 4" AZEK w/ a wider trimboard at the top w/ a little cornice detail. Pretty simple I figure. The siding I plan to use is Autumn Tan prepainted... so the contrast w/ the white trim should be sharp.... and was picked to match the shingles too.
Given your ideas, I'm thinking a gable style porch, similar to the detail on the gable front of the house... but maybe doing stone veneer square columns that blend right into an arched gable front to the porch.... how do think that would look. Might tie in nicely to the chimney.... and give it the cottage look you described.
BTW... yes... the current siding is getting a bit embarrassing... stripped the old cedar shingles... but haven't covered 'er up yet! :)
Also, all the window are new... so I'm sort of stuck from that standpoint.
-Ryan
>> I'm thinking a gable style porch, similar to the detail on the gable front of the house... but maybe doing stone veneer square columns that blend right into an arched gable front to the porch.... <<
I think that might look very good. Get bob to "Sketch it" up... :-)
You might be able to find some faux stone that would be pretty similar to the real stone you already have. To me it is sometimes very difficult to tell the fake from the real. For what you are proposing there would be relatively few square feet, although a lot of corners.... but anyway, for estimating purposes we figure about $13 a sq foot for faux and $18 up for real stone - installed prices.
Another idea if you don't like the board & batten (which could well be done in cement board material) it might look good to do shingles in the front gables. Yea, I know, you just got away from that... The hardi shingles are somewhat time consuming, but have the same durability as FC siding. I prefer the individual ones as opposed to the shingle panels which install faster but cut down on design options and are more expensive - material wise.
Or for a bit of a tutor the look some of that faux post and beam on the big front gable end... which again could be done in Hardi material too.
Re prepainted siding... I have never used it and therefore don't know about of the price diff and advantages. Not sure I really "get it" though. I mean your are gonna have to paint all the caulk and the few nail heads that may show, so you may end up painting the whole thing anyway just to get everything to match...
About 4 months ago my bossman told me he wanted (me) to build some cottage style houses. I found that the term "cottage" was a little illusive, and they slap that label on almost anything, but he showed me a few pics so I got the idea of what he had in mind. So I did a little research to find some design elements. Google "english cottage style homes" Well, since then he changed his mind about the style of house he wanted to build... but anyway, below is a list of design elements I had started working on:
Cottage Style Design Elements<!----><!----><!---->
Exterior<!----><!---->
Clipped gables
Unbalanced gables
Steep roof pitches
Hip roofs
Swooped eave over front door
Stone facades
Board shutters
4 over 1 windows
casement windows
diamond mutton windows
Some arch topped feathers such as windows or garage door
Interior<!----><!---->
Arched top panel doors<!----><!---->
Arch topped cased openings – or uncased
Regardless of what you do with the exterior, IMO a house with some kind of cohesive theme always has more curb appeal. Not that everything has to go together perfectly but so many modern homes just appear to have a hodgepodge of design elements... and it seems like modern architects and house designers are as bad as anyone... ie craftsman style elements with a palladium style window thrown in just because those are popular... barf!
Matt-
Again, great ideas... there is a house on my street w/ shingles on the gabled end.. up high... only on the "second story" portion. Is that what you had in mind? ... and just on the street side? That could look pretty nice.... stone columns [half or full] leading to a shingled gable front porch.... and the top half of the large gable front... done in shingles....
I really liked the full stone idea... my wife is worried it might be too dramatic looking.
A question... would you match the stone in the columns to the steps [Penn. Bluestone] or to the chimney [a mix of fieldstone, bluestone... who knows what].
Thanks for all of your ideas-
-Ryan
>> there is a house on my street w/ shingles on the gabled end.. up high... only on the "second story" portion. Is that what you had in mind? << Yes
>> I really liked the full stone idea... my wife is worried it might be too dramatic looking. << respond to RW's post and ask him to "sketch-it up"- now that he did the first one, the change probably wouldn't wouldn't take a real long time. I don't think it would be too dramitic (we are just talking about the porch posts and an arch above the steps - right? If so, it's not that much stone at all - it would be more of an accent. It would definitely give the house a distinctive look. It's kind of like picking out room colors - for me it is all very safe - beige, white, maybe some light gold - booooooring! - my wife or some of my customers get designers and come up with some bright or wild ideas, sometimes even kind of crazy stuff, but it ends up looking good and really adds personality. Or, do you want your house to look like a remodeled 1950s raised ranch? Not that I'm set on the arch idea - it was just something I threw out... I just looked at the existing bones of the house and tried to think of a specific direction to go in.
Re the stone - I didn't pick up from the pic that the 2 stones were different. That makes it a bit harder, but I think I'd try for a similar color to the porch and maybe try to match the mortar color. I don't think it would jump out to most people's eye that the textures are different. OTOH, you may not find anything that would be remotely similar so the whole idea might go right out the window.
I'm sure other people have some ideas too.