Porch Photos

Before

Progress Photos of a Porch Repair

The customer wanted the gables of the shed roof to be shallow because of nesting pigeons.
You can see that he has installed plywood over it's gables, which doesn't look nice. He also
wanted to have an enclosed balcony with round columns on the outside but square corners on
the inside. He wanted to save the cedar shake siding.

The problem of water from the main roof was never addressed properly and water entered the
flat roof at the top under the valley, followed the underside of the rafters to the front
beam and then dripped down through both left columns. You can see how the structure sags 
on the left side. The customer wanted to enclose the balcony with windows that matched the
style of the main house and he wanted to have the stairs replaced with heavier newel posts
and balustrades in keeping with the age of the house.

The customer decided to start the project at the beginning of October, however, it took 
2 months to receive the columns ordered when 3 weeks was expected. We erected scaffolding
and began to work from the roof down. You can see the straw on the ground where we knew we
would have to dig pilings for the stairs. The balcony is supported on Aluminum beams held
up by adjustable shoring jacks. These in turn hold up the aluma-beam and jacks supporting
the roof. These allow us to be able to level the structure safely while the scaffolding
allows easy access. You can see how delicate flowers can become damaged if left near the
renovation.

We reframed the roof with new material. We managed to keep 3 of the origional rafters and
all the tounge and groove ceiling boards. Note how the rafter tails are precut for the
crown moulding and fascia. Pay special attention to the raftertail installed at the corner
with the compound angles. This detail is usually to difficult for most carpenters to figure
out, so the board is usually left out completely and the fascia boards are only nailed to
each other. The lack of this support at the corners is why most of the older rooves you see
have their corners opening.

The balcony roof is insulated. Notice the rafter tails are nailed to a doubled rafter.

Rafter baffles are installed over top to maintain proper ventilation.

3/4 inch plywood is screwed down to the joists. Note the edges are supported on blocking rather
than using H-clips.

Metal drip flashings are installed around the perimeter of the roof. Then Ice and water
sheild is installed over the entire balcony roof and up the main roof before the balcony
roof is shingled. After this, wall step flashings and counterflashings are installed.

The valley flashing is extended.

The main roof shingles are replaced.

The entrance framing is repaired and the floor is installed.

We insulated under the entrance where it was inaccessable from inside.

The column capitals are primed and assembled. Note the copper nails. Should the customer
neglect the caulking in the future and water should get between the pieces of wood, the
copper nails will oxidise. The oxidised copper will act as a fungicide killing all the 
plants that would otherwise want to grow there. Without the funguses rotting the wood
the most that can happen is the wood gets wet and then dries out.

The columns receive the same treatment.

The balcony floor is insulated, covered with vapour barrier, and then the flooring is
installed. The vapour barrier will be continuous with the wall vapour barrier. The black
strips are ice and water shield used to seal the nail holes through the vapour barrier. It
is not nearly as messy as acoustical caulking.

The architectural roof that decorates the perimeter of the balcony floor is installed
with step flashings that are concealed with a counterflashing that is embedded into the
mortar of the brick wall. A wind barrier, the pink material, is installed over the wall.
The wall flashing overlaps the roof counterflashing and the vertical wall flashing
overlaps both of the other flashings. Counterflashings add a crisp finished look to the
completed work.

After the windows are installed and the casings put on, the room is painted, the floor
is sanded and then finished.

The stair is installed with the heavier newels and balustrade. The newel starts one
step up at the customer’s request to allow easier snow clearing. By having it higher it
also reduces the amount of cantilever someone can exert on the post.

The soffits on the 2 rooves were made with tounge and grove 3 inch wide boards that are
similar to those of the main roof. In the middle is a 1-1/2 inch wide aluminium air vent
that blends in nicely. If you look closely you can see that all the column capitals above
the columns are covered with a tin flashing to prevent water from getting to the inside
of the columns by rotting through the upper capitals.

See how nice the windows blend with the existing windows on the house. Also how nice the
roof gables look now with a crown moulding.

The window sills are the same height as the house and the top of the window matches
the 2nd mullion of the house windows. The lattice under the stairs matches the existing.
The wood was only primed white. The customer hired a professional painter to paint it the 
next Spring.