Well, it still is woodworking, right?

[steven c newman]

And may require a few handtools, too. Seems the house has a very small, ugly, and dangerous front porch...
Porch project, existing.JPG
Solid concrete, can't just remove it. Step is too high, even with the tread added, and no railings ( and a few people have fallen off this thing)
So...Single Brain Cell Sketch Up figured out a plan...I also needed to measure things out, draw up a paper plan...
Porch Project, the plan.JPG
Looking at the porch in the same direction. Going to cover up the Ugly Thing in PT lumber. Will come out to just beyond the existing sidewalk..
Porch Project, new step location.JPG
Front left corner will wind up at the cracked area. New steps will cover the worst of the cracked mess, then head to the corner of the house..
Porch Project, new corner spot.JPG
Right about where the straight wall meets the angled wall for a window bump out.
Porch Project, the plan 1.JPG
Like this. Decking will also be laid right on the top of the concrete porch, and fastened down....comes out level with the threshold of the front door.

Lots of cutting and fitting to do....mitresaw is handpowered....Where the handrails meet up, the 5/4 x 6 top rail needs mitered. ay also need to use a couple handsaws...depending on what is getting cut, and where. I also get a refresher on laying out and cutting stair stringers (3 of them)
material is being delivered the Monday after Easter...twasn't cheap.

Since this is under the 10' x 10' square size, I do not need to get any permits for this "addition". May have to move the mailbox, though...
May do a build blog about this thing. last time I did this kind of work, was about 2002....Above ground pool deck, with railings. I might be a tad rusty?

Will have a few "cold ones" for anyone that cares to stop by and help out..

Stay tuned

[JimA Thornton]

Are you sure it's solid concrete? I had a porch just like that and it was hollow. Rented an electric jack hammer and in a short time the porch was a pile of rubble. Built a nice wood porch.

Jim

[Bill Houghton]

Are you sure it's solid concrete? I had a porch just like that and it was hollow. Rented an electric jack hammer and in a short time the porch was a pile of rubble. Built a nice wood porch.

Jim

The big issue, in thinking about removing it, is the two-part question of whether there's rebar and, if so, whether it's attached to the house. A little examination of the joint between porch and house will help on the second question. If it's tight to the house, it's probably attached to the foundation.

[steven c newman]

Tight to the foundation...can still see the lines on the concrete from the forms. I'll tapcon joists to the concrete ides of the porch....4x4 posts will get lagged in elsewhere...may add a few cut-off 4 x 4s to sit in the back corner, on the old step...will box around the downspout, as well...

decking will get tapconned to the surface of the concrete porch..then out over the rest of the frame work. 10' 4 x 4s will get cut into two 5' long posts....both to support the frame work, and act as posts for the railings.....no digging, posts will rest on 2' x2' concrete paver blocks. Looks like 3 stringers for the steps....5" riser x 11" treads....top tread will be even with the decking.

thinking I'll need to lay a tarp down where the boards will be sitting, while we unload the truck...hardware can come into the house, until needed...there is an outdoor, ground fault outlet on the porch....And a decent porch light....

Circular saw has a new blade, and is fixed up and ready to go.....need to get a 3-way plug...as I don't feel like stopping to unplug one tool, before I can use the next....

Going to be a lot of work, but, should be a lot of fun...hope the weather is decent for a couple days...

[steven c newman]

Ok, 3-way plug has been bought. This way, I can leave two drills and a saw plugged into one cord. Much easier than having to fool around plugging and un-plugging tools...

Upon further review...there is a second downspout to work around..
Porch project, existing.JPG
Right there on the left....should be able to avoid it, as the deck will miss it..barely. Depending on how tall the joists are....I may have to pull the wooden tread...no biggie, just a couple tapcons holding it place. Might even "recycle" it....maybe as a short joist, between the porch and the outside rim joist.

Was told not to use the composite decking ( "waste of time..") and just use the 5/4 x 6 x 10' decking boards. Boards will be a bit wet, anyway, will lay them down tight to each other, and let any gaps appear as they dry out.

[Stew Denton]

Well Steven, I hope it's woodworking, because it is about all I get to do when it comes to woodworking.

Currently the project is repairing our fence. I have a bunch of thinned and failing pickets to replace on one section, a stringer in another section that cracked, and another section where I have to replace two stringers. (We had about 8 hours of 50 mph constant wind velocity a while back with 80 mph gusts....messed up some of our fence and two sections on the roof where shingles were blown loose or blown off....about 8 hours of shingling repair.) I have never seen that kind of wind storm before...at least not for a straight 8 hours. Also painting our deck which I repaired last fall.

Hope its woodworking, but I hope to do some real woodworking once the "have to do work" is done. (Somehow it is hard to convince myself that it is woodworking.)

Stew

[William Fretwell]

Be nice to move the down spout off the porch and into that small corner near it. Can you do that up above? Well I’m sure it’s possible....

[steven c newman]

Intend to box around the front downspout....deck will just miss the other one at the back...

Nice to have ab excuse to by new toys,,er,,tools...of the 3 frming squares I have on hand...not a one has enough of their markings left, to be of much use..so...
Porch Projct, new square.JPG
Mainly to be able to read the markings...as in stair stringer layout....also ( since I lost my last set) picked up a set of these..
Porch Project, stringer tool.JPG
I can set the square as needed on the 2x....then set these so I can repeat.....looking like a 4-1/4" by 10"....Have to go from the ground up 18" to the top of the new decking, top step to match the height of the deck boards.

On a side note: After getting blank stares at both Blue Borg, and the Orange Borg about a pushstick for a tablesaw..
new shop tools.JPG
$2 at Menard's. Chisel for some "beater jobs" I have coming up...1/4"
Hope I get some rain free weather, next week.....electric drills and rain do not play well together...shocking, I know...
May get a few "rafter" hangers, to attach the stairs to the deck....may go look at a few...

[Stew Denton]

Steven,

A quick question: Why the blank stares at the Borgs about the table saw push stick.....surely they would have known what it was.....wouldn't they?

Regards,

Stew

[steven c newman]

LOL...I wouldn't count on it.....they seemed to think I needed to buy the tablesaw, just to get a simple push stick.....they don't even sell featherboards....think about that.

[Andrew Seemann]

If you do end up using any of your good hand tools on the PT lumber it might be a good idea to clean them off afterwards. That stuff tends to be soaking wet and the preservatives can have lots of loose electrons floating about in them. Definitely not friendly to good steel.

[steven c newman]

And...looks like I'll be working around rain showers to boot..BTDT....was a carpenter by trade....mainly concrete form work...used to weather problems. I can always go hide in the shop, until a storm blows by...then back out and back to work...Bought a tarp today...to lay on the ground, for the lumber to lay on...and another to lay over the lumber....hardware and tools came come into the house, until called for....Have a "toolbox saw" for working on these types of boards...and circular saw blades are fairly cheap...I can toss one when the project is done, and get a new blade.

may have a few uses for the clamps....mainly pipe clamps...deck boards do like to curve a bit....

Figures...I got rid of my Carpenter's Rig years ago...two nail bags, tape measure holder, belt, and suspenders....used to weigh 50+ pounds when fully loaded....may just use a 5 gal. bucket to haul stuff around...going to be work..but, going to be fun, too.....

stay tuned..

[Noah Magnuson]

I did exactly this several years ago on my previous house. It was a huge improvement. Pretty much the same technique though I tiled the landing in slate instead of fastening wood to the top. Same method of anchoring of joists though.

[Rob Luter]

Looks good to me. Last weekend I focused on utilitarian pursuits like building a bottom shelf for my bench, rebuilding the underpinnings and handles of my wheelbarrow, and reworking a mortised latch system on a pocket door. Mostly low precision stuff. Right up my alley.

[Jim Koepke]

Steven,

A quick question: Why the blank stares at the Borgs about the table saw push stick.....surely they would have known what it was.....wouldn't they?

Regards,

Stew

Much of the help in the Borgs do not have a clue as to what is what. My guess is they have no idea what a push stick might be. For me it saves a couple of bucks and aggravation of dealing with the unknowing to make my own push sticks.

It wouldn't surprise me to find out the management doesn't have a clue about the small tools used for safety in a shop. It may be it doesn't fit in their profit per square foot calculations.

jtk