A someday dream for years has been to have a screen porch. We opted not to add one to our first home for a number of reasons. But for our long term house, we were determined it was a must. In March we began the process of making this dream a reality. Fast forward to this month and we’re in full blown construction mode!
Out with the Old
The deck on the house seemed adequate enough when we first moved into the house 6 years ago. It wasn’t nearly as spacious as the patio and freestanding deck we had built at our first house, but it worked. Our table, chairs, deck box, and grill fit. There wasn’t a lot of extra space though so we knew we wanted to enlarge eventually.
We had hoped part of it might be salvageable, but no such luck. The new porch area replacing it is larger and the 20 year old wood was deteriorating. For safety reasons, as well as structural, the old needed to go. By the time I came home for lunch on the first day, the old deck was completely gone.
In with the New
Framing for the new screen porch and deck began as soon as the old deck was demolished.
By the end of day 3, framing was complete and we could really start to visualize our new outdoor space.
It’s considerably larger. The old deck was 10 feet by 12 feet. The new deck is about the same, but the screen porch area is 12 feet by 20 feet. Because we’ve extended into the backyard 2 feet further than the original deck, we’ve had to temporarily remove the swings on the playset. The kids have mixed emotions on that. They miss the swings right now, but are also loving the live “HGTV show” happening in our backyard.
We’re all looking forward to having this new space to enjoy. Next up, railings, paint, and stain.
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