Porch Addition Archives

July 9, 2019December 7, 2023

Porch Decking Installation Starts Up

Day #74

July 4, 2019 – As promised, we got our Trex composite decking delivery this morning. Lowe’s called around 6:30 AM and the delivery guy showed up at 7:05 AM. Let the porch decking installation commence!

Porch Decking Delivery — Trex composite porch decking on the delivery truck.

Porch Decking Onsite — Lowe’s delivery guy dropping the decking in front of the porch.

Today was one of those days that you just wish you could start over. I didn’t sleep well last night and I was grouchy when I got up. I started the porch decking installation but it went very sloooowwly and I made a beginners mistake.

We decided to “picture frame” the porch into four sections. This will make it easier to get to the underground plumbing in the future. I am using Trex Hideaway hidden fasteners to attach the decking. They are removable so having a separate section over the plumbing makes sense. No need to remove all the decking if we have a plumbing problem.

“Picture Frame” Support

To install a picture framed deck you have to add additional support framing. This is necessary to accommodate the change in direction of the “frame” piece. The additional support framing is installed at each side of the picture frame. For reasons previously mentioned, I had some sort of brain fart and couldn’t quite grasp the solution. It took me like forever to figure it out.

Picture Frame Support Framing — Installing the “picture frame” support.

With the picture frame support completed in the first section I could start installing the porch decking. The gapping requirements of Trex decking are ¼” between the sides and ⅛” between the ends of the deck pieces. To keep the snakes from coming up from under the deck I placed a layer of fine mesh screen before install any decking.

Fine Mesh Screen — Fine mesh screen to keep snakes off the deck.

Beginners Mistake!

A picture framed deck has 45° miter cuts in the frame pieces at each corner. I our case we will only have 45° miters at the outside corners. To make each miter work you need two full width planks to meet at each corner. The logical place for me to start was on the outside and work in towards the cottage. This way I would have full width pieces at the outside corners. If I had to rip the last deck piece to fit it would be along the cottage and mostly hidden.

Well, where do I start…? At the cottage side, of course! Thank goodness I only got 4 pieces in place before I quit for the day.

Porch Decking — Porch decking installed starting from the wrong side!

Around 6:00 PM I had enough of the sun, heat and humidity so I packed it in for the day. Robrandi and I went out to Wingman’s to grab a bite to eat. As usual, it was great.

When we got back later in the evening the rest of the family and the wolf pack started to arrive. Beam Master Troy made a comment. He said, “I would have just started the decking on the outside and worked back to the cottage. That way the rip will be along the house.” Okay, I heard what he said but didn’t digest the information until much later.

So much for the first porch decking installation day. More to come tomorrow.

July 9, 2019December 7, 2023

Roof Sheathing & Felt Paper – New Porch Addition

Day #73

June 30, 2019 – Woke up to a beautiful morning. Perfect time to continue the plywood roof sheathing and felt paper installation. I will need to hustle to get this all done in one day. If I make it, the blue tarps will be moved to the next roof section.

Blue Tarp — Blue traps covering the kitchen addition.

For the roof sheathing in this section I estimated and purchased twelve (12) sheets of plywood. I already had several rolls of felt paper from a previous project and a big box of 1″ plastic cap nails. I had everything I needed so I didn’t loose any time running out.

Porch Roof — Roof rafters and ceiling joists over the new porch.

Roof Sheathing

The plywood installation went very smoothly. I hoisted the sheets up one at a time. Using my Rigid framing nailer I fastened them down with 8d ring shank nails.

New Porch Roof — Starting the second row of sheathing.

Between the roof rafters I installed plywood H-clips. H-clips provide additional stiffness between the edges of the roof sheathing and make for a stronger roof.

Felt Paper

After completing the roof sheathing I immediately started the felt paper installation. I had several rolls of felt paper. Some of them were 15 lb and some were 30 lb. I doubled up the 15 lb layers so, for the most part there is 30 lb felt paper over the entire section. One inch plastic cap nails hold the roof felt down.

I am happy to report that this section of the roof was dry by about 4:00 PM. I made it in one day. Hooray!

Roof - Kitchen & Porch Sides — Roof over the kitchen and porch additions.

Next weekend is the 4th of July. We are expecting to have the Trex decking delivered on the Thursday the 4th. That is the delivery date we got from Lowe’s. We are skeptical but we will see.

July 3, 2019December 7, 2023

Miscellaneous Roof Framing

Day #72

June 29, 2019 – Just a short blog today. We had some rain that slowed the construction but I completed two more porch roof rafters. Between the rain drops I also completed some miscellaneous roof framing. We are now ready for roof sheathing and felt paper on the roof over the new kitchen addition and the first section of the porch roof.

Miscellaneous Framing — Old meets new. Miscellaneous roof framing at living room.

Tomorrow’s weather is supposed to be beautiful. We will be starting the roof sheathing. If we get the sheathing done we will immediately start the felt paper installation. Looking forward to a dry roof!

June 24, 2019December 7, 2023

Roof Dry In Begins – Plywood & Felt Paper

Day #68

June 23, 2019 – I was up early this morning, with high hopes of getting the roof dry in process started. I had to make a run into Lowe’s to get the plywood roof sheathing and felt paper. As it turns out Lowe’s opens at 8:00AM on Sunday’s so I had about two hours to kill. What better way than to continue demolition on the old kitchen exterior wall. A got a good chunk of it out before I left and I took down the tarps on the living room wall. It’s pretty much wide open now.

Old Kitchen Exterior Wall Framing — Removing the old kitchen exterior wall framing.

Old Exterior Wall Framing — Tarps removed from the old living room wall and the framing demolition at the old kitchen wall.

Now I’m off to Lowe’s…..

Before we could start putting any roof sheathing in place we needed to demo the last of the old kitchen roof at the gable end. When that was complete I constructed a ladder type overhang and new gable framing.

Ladder Framing - Overhang — Ladder style overhang framing on the old kitchen side.

Gable End Framing — Gable end framing in the old kitchen side.

Now we have an overhang supported by the gable framing so the roof dry in begins.

Roof Dry In…

We installed 5 sheets of 5/8″ plywood roof sheathing on the new rafters over the old kitchen. This was followed up with a layer of #30 lb roofing paper held in place with green cap nails.

It was to late in the day to start another roof section so we decided to clean up, and tarp the roof back in until next weekend. We didn’t get as far as I had planned but I set the goal pretty high. Next weekend we will continue the roof dry in. The next goal is to totally enclose the new addition to keep the birds and insects out. It’s been kind of buggy inside!

June 24, 2019December 7, 2023

Old Kitchen Roof….GoodBye!

Day #67

June 22, 2019 – The miscellaneous roof demolition is complete. The new structural support beam across the end of the living room is complete. The roof ridge beam and support column are in place. Now is the time for us to say goodbye old kitchen roof!

Today’s focus is the complete demolition and removal of the old kitchen roof. We started with cutting and removing the 1′ thick oak roof plank. After the plank was removed we cut and pried loose the full 2×4 solid oak rafters and ceiling joists.

The cottage is constructed with rough cut solid oak framing. After almost 70 years it is harder than rock! At the end of the day the only remaining portion of the old roof was the gable end.

Roof Demolition — Oak roof planking removal.

With the old kitchen roof gone rafter framing for the new roof continued.

New Rafters — New roof rafters and ridge beam..

Porch Rafters & Ceiling Joists — Roof rafters and ceiling joists over the new porch.

Tomorrow we will demo the remaining gable end on the old kitchen roof. We will build a new gable end with a one foot overhang and begin placing roof sheathing. Immediately after roof sheathing we will install a layer of 30 lb roof felt to get us dried in.

PS: I broke down and bought a Rigid 21° 3½ Round-Head Framing Nailer and I’m loving it. You can really put down some nails with this rig. I can’t believe that I built (back in the day) my whole house without using any pneumatic s. What was I thinking…?

June 24, 2019December 7, 2023

Scaffold, Demolition & Roof Rafters

Day #66

June 21, 2019 – Yesterday I pulled six scaffold bucks, six braces and ten planks out of my shed. I loaded all of this, my baker scaffold and a six foot stepladder onto my trailer for the trip to the Cot-Taj-Mahal. My plan is to start framing roof rafters and dry in a portion of the roof this weekend.

On Friday when I arrived, the first order of business was to I set up the scaffolding. I put the baker scaffold in the old kitchen. One section in the new kitchen and the remaining two sections in front of the new porch roof. For our roof framing it’s much easier to work off scaffolding than it is to work off of ladders. This should be a time saver too.

Scaffold Section 1 — S-Style Walk Thru Scaffold in the new kitchen.

Sections 2 & 3 — Scaffold sections in front of new porch roof.

With the scaffold set up done it was time to get started. I completed the roof demolition above the living room ceiling. This allowed me to trim the end of the new structural beam and install the last wall anchor.

Wall Anchor — Wall anchor at structural beam. Full 2×4 solid oak studs and top plates.

Roof Rafter Framing Starts…

I had just enough daylight left to frame the first new roof rafter on the old kitchen side and two roof rafters on the new porch side. On the kitchen side the first rafter is actually sistered onto and existing rafter. This will give us a solid nailing surface for the plywood decking material. The rafters on the porch side are a much longer. They are supported mid-span by an extension of the new kitchen wall.

We are off to a good start on the roof framing. Tomorrow’s forecast, beautiful with no rain, for once. Perfect for putting on a new roof.

June 18, 2019December 7, 2023

Porch Beams & Ceiling Joists

Day #65

June 16, 2019 – It rained most of the night but thankfully we did not take on any water. Must be a good tarp job. Today, between the rain drops, we set up two sections of porch beams at “Brenda’s Deck”. We also started the ceiling joists / roof framing for the porch roof.

As we gathered the tools and materials to get started I realized that we were short one post cap and one post base. Since we were framing two porch beam sections we needed three caps and three bases. We only had two of each. Robrandi and Brenda from “Brenda’s Deck” ran out to Lowe’s and brought back the missing hardware. Thankx to them for coming to the rescue.

While we waited for the hardware we installed the rest of the exterior plywood sheathing at the new kitchen walls. We will now have to access the new kitchen from inside the cottage.

When the ladies returned from Lowe’s we framed up two sections of porch beams, nine porch ceiling joists and one row of solid bridging between the joists. It was drizzling the entire time. Rather than continue to work in the rain we stopped for the day. Time to pack up and go home.

Kitchen Exterior Wall Sheathing & Porch Framing — Kitchen exterior wall sheathing complete. Porch Framing started.

Porch Beam & Ceiling Joists Framing — Two sections of porch beams and some porch ceiling joists framed up.

The best thing is that I didn’t have to move my temporary outside light pole. The ceiling joists are higher than the pole. That was awesome and it saved a couple of hours of work! I’m such a great planner!

Next weekend, weather permitting I hope to start the roof framing over the new kitchen addition. I have to remember to bring down a scaffold section or two and my Baker scaffold to make life easier.

September 14, 2018March 31, 2024

Rained Out – Renovation Day 45, Not!

Day #45

September 9, 2018 – Rained out! Today the game was called on account of rain! We packed up and headed home while the yard began to flood. Hopefully we will have better luck next weekend and I will be able to continue the blocking installation.

Rained Out - Front Yard Flooding — Front yard flooding. Too much rain!

September 7, 2018December 7, 2023

Porch Floor Joists Def Jam Session

Day #41

August 31, 2018 – Framing of the porch floor joists continued today.

I installed the first section of the Yorkshield 106 PT copper ledger flashing. This flashing keeps water from migrating back into the cottage walls.

At the end of the day approximately 22 porch joists were set. To allow for easier access at the living room door, we screwed down some temporary plywood decking.

In the blurred, whiskey soaked wee hours of the night the first Def Jam poetry reading occurred at the new Fire-Pit Stage. Thankx to special guest star, Hurricane Dan and stage Lighting Technician, Studgie Studger.

The kitchen addition floor framing is complete . Tomorrow we will continue with the porch addition floor framing.

Porch Floor Joists — Floor joist framing for the new porch addition continues.

Porch Floor Joists & Ledger Flashing — Floor joist framing and copper ledger flashing for the new porch addition.

Temporary Walkway — Plywood runway at the living room door for access.

Fire-Pit Stage - Hurricane Dan — Special guest star “Hurricane Dan” takes the stage under the light.

Fire-Pit Stage - Def Jam Poetry — Hurricane Dan Def Jam poetry reading straight outta his cell phone.

June 22, 2018March 31, 2024

Concrete Porch Slab

Day #5

May 12, 2018 – Completing the porch roof demolition allows us to remove the concrete porch slab. Today we began this process with an electric jackhammer. Very quickly we discovered that there were actually two layers of slabs.

The first slab layer is inside the frost wall. Because it is not attached correctly to the frost wall, over time it settled. To overcome the settlement a second slab was placed on top of the first slab. This second slab contained chicken wire which proved more difficult to remove.

At the end of the day the only remaining concrete slab was a section located at the living room door. We will remove this at a later date.

Electric Jack Hammer — Troy on electric jack hammer.

Concrete Rubble Pile — Concrete rubble pile.

Porch Slab Removed — Porch slabs removed.

Next weekend the plan is to remove the wood stove from inside the cottage. Hopefully, our demo subcontractor can be haul it away with the concrete rubble pile and the frost wall.