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mrwilson_gw

Redoing roof... is there a way to work in a front porch?

mrwilson
10 years ago

We're going to have to put on a new roof and new siding... my wife would love to have a covered front porch. Anyone have ideas on how we could make that happen? And any guess at the cost? (photo attached)

Comments (5)

  • palimpsest
    10 years ago

    There's really no place to put one.

  • _sophiewheeler
    10 years ago

    Looks like they already closed in the front porch.

    If you were OK with greatly reducing the light that you get in the home through that triple window, then maybe you could do a porch. Depending on your home's location as to snow load issues regarding allowable pitch, (check with your local building codes office. You'll need a permit for this anyway.) you could do a shallow pitched shed roof off of the main roof there right where the second floor shed dormer is on the right and extend it outward to create a porch. You'd have to remove the the left hip portion of the former porch to extend it's gable and flash it correctly so as not to create water issues, because you'd have a valley. Then you could do a cement on grade porch there where the shrubs are, but it wouldn't be large enough to be gracious. And I don't think it would be very attractive on the home either.

  • mrwilson
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    hollysprings - Agreed.

    Here's another thought... what if I take away part of the 2 car garage (might still be able to pull the car in but just no room in front of the car) maybe up to the window. And extend the left side toward the living room window but not covering the window. Possible?

  • palimpsest
    10 years ago

    There is only one way that I can think that could possibly (but not definitely) work, and it would take the house into a distinctly modernist direction and involves one aspect you may definitely not like.

    Right now extending entry level roof in any direction creates a conflict in the staggered roofs and facades.

    You would have to completely remove the entry level roof.

    The roof over the living room portion of the house would extend past the front of the house, and extend off to it's right and continue on at the same pitch to cover the entry level area. It would connect to that façade of the house right under the windows with the shutters at about the level of the shingle/clapboard line right below the window sills and stop at the current eave line of the former entry level roof.

    It would also extend to the far left corner of the house.

    Since it would drop completely over the living room window, you would basically have hole in the roof or "skylight" in the porch roof in that area and the shape would be continued by suggestion by two rafters that aligned with the two mullions between the LR window.

    It would give you a few feet of porch over to the left extent of the LR window, a patio area of sorts in front of the window and a stylistic continuation of "porch" to the left side of the window.

    I've only seen this type of things work with rustic modernism where the entire house was some kind of grey cedar siding with a grey roof, or an all white kind of modernist house, both very monochromatic.

  • Annie Deighnaugh
    10 years ago

    It might look funny, but you might be able to extend the lower roof to the left by a couple of feet to gain a little more space for a larger porch area. You'd have to extend both the top and the bottom of the roof line so the angle of the hip would remain the same. It might look funny as the top of the roof would no longer be centered on the front facade as I assume it is now (though I can't really see from the picture.)

    The question is, why does she want a front porch. Right now, there is cover for people who come to the door. If she's looking for a space to actually sit out front, that can be accomplished with landscaping. We added a patio area in the front at our old house and we enjoyed sitting out there for several months of the year even though it wasn't covered. We used the planting beds around the patio to define the area, and we had it covered in bluestone. It worked well for us.