When we bought, we ended up with a perfectly nice house, generally suits us all, except.. for the lack of front porch. Is this a ridiculous idea? Is it the kind of thing I would need a permit to do? Is it something that I could do myself given my pretty basic carpentry knowledge? Or would it be worth the expense of a professional?
Posted Nov 6, 2023, 1:35 AM UTC
You can go to the Trex website and use their deck design tool to get the estimated cost of a Trex deck (minus) the roof. The actual cost would likely be less if you are judicious with what materials you get and when you get them (for instance, now is a great time to pick up remaining materials from projects people completed this summer) and it you do the work yourself, you should be able to build it for a fraction of that cost.
And yes, a deck is something that you can do. Trex Academy on youtube has a great collection of videos on how to build decks. The videos apply equally whether you are using Trex decking, some other composite decking or wood decking.
Thank you! These are some great starting points ty explore.
Meh. Questionable advice all around. Haha. The Trex deck calculator is also meh at best. Goto Menards deck builder. They will give you everything you need to know including plans and material selections. They don’t do the covered roof but really you could do it in two pieces. Build the deck with post reinforcement for the roof and then next year do the roof.
I would also recommend doing the front door at least.
This is a sizable project. Anyone who tells you otherwise is an idiot or a hack. I’m a licensed GC and we do many many decks. Depending on the size of the deck, I could see this bring a 25k+ project but it depends on a lot of things. Message me if you have any questions.
Anyone who tells you otherwise is an idiot or a hack
Very nicely said. I wonder why homeowners have such low opinions of contractors these days.
Yes, build a deck without a roof for now if you are cost constrained.
Your picture would look ridiculous in real life. Rather save the cost of the roof and build a deck that spans past your front door, preferably across the entire front.
You can add a roof later, when cost allows.
Disagree, a deck is not something the average homeowner/DIY can complete by themselves. Especially when adding a roof into the situation. And I'm not exactly sure how you think it's realistic to get your materials by buying leftovers from multiple completed projet.
I'd never suggest that a clueless homeowner take on a complex structural build. But a careful homeowner who is willing to learn because they intend to take care of their house can absolutely handle a deck that is only a couple of feet above ground. And I venture to guess that the result will be better engineered and better built than what many contractors are delivering these days. The roof is a different matter. But OP will likely be in a better position to decide on that after tackling the deck.
As for the materials, when I was planning my deck last year, the only things I did not buy at a discount were the pressure treated lumber, the Trex fascia boards and some of the screws. The rest of the Trex decking and Fortress railing materials, the hangers, the post bases and other hardware all came from individuals or contractors getting rid of the left-over materials. Even Home Depot had deep discount of much of the decking materials late in the fall.
Look at your neighbor’s houses, not just for design inspiration, but if other homes don’t have a covered porch, you may not be able to have one either, due to zoning and setback requirements.
Ooh good point. All of the houses at our end of the block are this same plan. That's definitely something to check.
My MIL wanted to cover her front stoop. She started doing it, literally only covered the concrete that was there, and promptly got a stop work order from the town. They were actually really good about it, but she violated two things; permit rules, and set back. She got the permit after she applied for a variance. I wrote it, and partially based it on the fact that she would be one of many with the same variance. But if you looked closely, all the houses had exactly the same front set back from the curb.
I live in NY, so similar rules may apply to you.
The way we did it was in stages. We poured a large concrete pad with brackets- footings for a free standing gazebo (square) that wasn't attached to the house. We then did a border of hedges to make a fence or you could make a short patio fence from block. Depending on where you live a permit for a 3 foot or less tall for a patio fence aren't needed if you prefer this. This makes it a little more affordable and the bigger the concrete, the less to mow. It made an affordable project for us. We have a table and chairs out there. Lots of luck.
Would love to see a picture of this or an example of your layout.
Not ridiculous at all, but if you're going to do it I would suggest going all the way across the front of the house and not just off to one side like in your drawing.
A 6 foot covered porch all the way across the front would probably run about $20k as long as you keep it simple. If you are capable of doing it yourself you could do it for a third of that.
That price estimate for a full width porch is very low, especially for Connecticut. Probably at least double that, especially if doing it right and having a full foundation and finished porch rather than a deck with a janky roof. I would estimate materials alone at $15K-20K, a fair labor estimate is 2-3x materials costs, so total job somewhere in the $40K-60K range.
Is OP in Connecticut? I missed that.
Prices are higher than when I built my deck I suppose, and I didn't factor in concrete which is more expensive than building the porch "deck style" on posts, but I built a 1,200 sq ft deck, roofed and with custom railings, for $11k in materials, and built another 400 sq ft deck for a friend with $4k in materials. So I was dividing the cost for the 1,200 deck by 5 (assuming 6x40 for this person) and then quadrupling for labor and adding another 50-60% for increased prices and rounding up for good measure.
For the OP: if someone quotes you $60k for a porch that small, just calmly shut the door in their face and call someone else. That's roughly $240 per sq ft and you can build a house for less than that anywhere except the most expensive COL cities.
Ohio here. I would say it’s somewhere between that for us.
This thread is telling me pay for the covered patio in the front of my cape cod and build the deck myself in the back. Built a fence first time by myself. I guess the deck is next.
I’d you want it, do it king
Your house is very similar to my parents' house. Size, color - everything! They added an addition on the non-garage side, about the same size as the garage, and a front porch kinda like you've drawn here to help with the visual transition, so that the front face of the house isn't just one long boring unchanging thing (since it got longer with the addition). The porch is asymmetrical (only on the one side) and actually looks great IRL. So I'm saying go for it!
Thank you! I know symmetrical would look bet probably, but I feel like one sided won't look bad, and might, like you said, be more visually interesting.
I think including the front door would definitely look better, but the cost difference to make it symmetrical vs not would be so much smaller vs the whole cost of the project I'd think you'd kick yourself later for not just doing the whole thing. Besides that, you mentioned you had reasons for not doing both sides of the front door....this curious mind wants to know why?
They're all pretty dumb reasons 😂 or at least, dumb to people not involved in deciding (I assume).
Number 4 isn't dumb. The other three...
For the cost, which would be significant, would you ever use it?
No one I know in New England ever sits on their front porches, they always hang in their backyards.
If you're going to do this at least include the door area.
Building a covered deck at the rear of a home is more forgiving with respect to having limited construction knowledge. Front porches are most often treated as a feature of a home. At the very least, it should properly tie into even the most modest characteristics of a house’s exterior. In comparison, rear decks are out of view from the street, and often employ construction techniques that are very generic.
Whatever you decide, include a cover over the front door.
I read that as "put a torch to my house".
Occasionally tempting, tbh.
A lot of pain / a lot of pain
I would definitely go over the front door, even if it's asymmetrical. Also be careful not to obstruct your electric meter. It usually needs something like 3 ft wide x 3 ft deep unobstructed working space in front of it (but your utility might be different.) So you could probably put a porch in front of it, but the railing as you have it drawn is a no-go.
I haven't built decks in awhile, but I used to do some nice ones. Here are the design considerations that would affect the price: Foundation-- floating piers, frost-depth piers, poured footing/slab, etc. Any excavation will require line locates & clearance from utility companies for underground lines.
Deck surface- treated lumber, cedar, composite (Trex etc). Or poured concrete porch.
Railing material, if applicable- wood, metal, glass, cable, PVC.
If wood deck/railing, what surface treatment? Paint, stain or sealer?
Roof weight rating (snow load?) and roofing material.
Required prep/demo-- remove old porch? Remove siding? Move any landscaping, electrical, etc? House OK to attach ledger, or make porch self-supporting?
All of these would affect the bid fairly significantly. Offhand, I'd ballpark it at $10-15k in my market.
I’m not sure if it’s been suggested but another option would be to include the door and one window on each side. It would be more symmetrical without doing the full front. You definitely need to include the door whichever way you go.
It will look odd. It’s best to also include the front door not just to the side of it. but I agree it needs a porch. Just not off to the side leaving the door without any coverage. If you’re going to do do the whole thing.
Depends on where you are. I’m a contractor and that’s something I do every day. You could certainly do it by yourself. Check with your local municipality about the permitting. Some areas don’t necessarily need it.
Looks too small to me. Enough for like two chairs max comfortably. I would either go full with entire house front porch and bite the bullet cost wise or do nothing.
I had almost exactly this done to my house. I paid about $15k in the Midwest US. See posts in my profile there is a post with a picture.
The image codefyre shared would look really nice. You definitely need the porch to cover the door.
The other thing you MIGHT consider that they are doing EVERYWHERE in NE Pennsylvania, are the metal roofs for front porches. The rain does sound lovely and from what a friend said when she did it on her back porch, it would be less $$ than a regular shingled roof.
Also, for symmetry, you could extend the roof structure across the entire front but not cover the part with plants—so it would be a pergola. You’d get the light and could add some climbing plants to the front.
Oh dang, I love the pergola idea!
I think a brick porch that extends to the first window on both sides of the front door would look better for symmetry. You have room in your front yard to make it deeper. You don't have to have the whole front porch covered, but at minimum, the front door should have an awning or something.
It definitely seems like a permit thing. For sure, you will need to see if zoning will allow that
Your picture wouldn't look good in real life. If you had one that went from the far left to there (covering your two windows on both sides of the front door) and slightly higher (maybe with a raised point in the middle above the door or not) it would look much better. Permits are likely required. You'd be making a deck with a roof essentially so you'd have both structural permits (footings and decking along with roofing permits (roofing and flashing). Where do you live?
Agreed. If they do it at all they should span the whole front wall.
I'm in Connecticut. I agree that it would look better symmetrical on both sides. We've got a couple reasons for only doing one side, but we'll keep debating if those are good enough reasons and what the tradeoff would be.
Even if you can only do one side, the porch should include the front door. As the owner of a home with a large porch that I absolutely love, having a rain-free zone around the door is half of its value and usefulness.
It would be asinine to have a porch not covering the front door.
One of the great things about a porch is going out on a rainy day and watching the rain.
Also, make sure the porch is "deep" enough such that you can easily walk by while sitting in a chair or else you are constantly moving the chair when you walk out
You're right it looks much better, but that house doesn't have the same number of windows on both sides of the front door ..I bet if it did they would've done a full length porch.
I'm not disagreeing that a full length porch would be best, but the OP has indicated that there are reasons why they don't want to go that route. My link is just an example of a half-length porch that looks nice and includes the front door.
You don't need a full length porch to look good, you just need to make it reasonably symmetrical and look like it was planned vs just thrown up as an afterthought. Even a porch covering the front door and each window to the side could look good if done right
What would adding something like this cost?
Diy you could probably get it done for a few thousand. Really depends on materials (wood vs trex) and size.
Hiring out I would be surprised if it was less than $20k if you could even get it that cheap. The decking portion wouldn't be bad but the roof portion requires attaching a fairly large piece of structure to the house and also pouring footers for support.
The amount of times I have had to cut out the outside bottom molding/casing for doors not under a cover made me never want a house that had an external door every again. Even my Garage side entrance of the house we built is under a cover so it won't easily get wet. My last house had four sets of doors, two french doors, without protection from above. I could not keep up with sealing it no matter how hard I tried. It was a cheap cookie cutter house too, so that might have been part of it.
There are a ton of these where I live, and like you pointed out, they usually cover the door too at least. Looks good to me
One side is fine, but certainly cover the door under the porch too. On the other side just fill in the empty space with some landscaping and it'll look great
This looked just like Connecticut to me! Hi neighbor!!
Heyo!
I wish we could add a porch, but our house is from 1921 and is too close to the street, so zoning won't allow it. Good luck with your project!
You should check and see if your town has any setback rules. You might have to be a certain distance from the street.
They aren’t. The porch can either be an integral part of the house or a wart. If you want a small covered area, buy a gazebo.
Can you explain the reasons? Just curious. That house would look awesome with a full porch if you could swing it monetarily wise. If not, I understand that reason.
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Speak for yourself. I for one think a red and yellow McPorch as in OP’s renderings would look fantastic.
I agree with the porch on both sides of the front door and would suggest doing a return (roof ridge running out from the house perpendicular) over the front door to retain its beautiful trim. It also would add a change of profile to the porch roof for better ascetic quality.
The mock up is silly, small, and cramped. Porch roofs need to start much higher.. like right below the 2nd story windows.
Yes, my very professional doodling with my finger and my photo editing app fall short.
Real dimensions-- about 5-6' deep, 11-12' wide, and yes, the roof would start higher, but that depends on the slope, so I just tossed it in to give the idea that yes it does have a roof.
Cover the front door if you’re going to do a porch on the front.
Definitely! I realized that pretty quickly after doing the sketches, but then didn't go back to edit them. The lack of door shelter is something I think we'd fix no matter what we end up doing!
My front porch is larger than that and it's borderline useless for any practical use other than seating 2 people and a small table. I think it would look a lot nicer with a porch although I'd make it a lot wider and 6-8' deep. Put a deck in the back for entertaining and keep a few nice chairs or benches in the front for looks.
That's not even remotely true. There is no reason to start the roof that high
Look at pictures of any Colonial house with a front porch. The roof for the porch starts 4-8" below the 2nd story windows. Either immediately after the lower trim board, or after 1-2 courses of siding. It is true.