My Brothers Porch

A few weekends ago I finally got round to putting the porch up that I've made for my brothers new house. 

I'd made the truss up a few months ago so it was great to get it up and into place.

Porch Progress - Fascia, Felt And Batten

Progress with the porch has been slow to say the least. Taking on too much work over the summer and starting other jobs has meant that I've not had much time lately to tackle it . Luckily my mum has come for a few days to look after the children (and do a bit of weeding) whilst I try to get a bit further with my projects. 

 The last time I did a post about the porch it was when I put the timber work up for the roof. Since then Dill has finished the brickwork and I've added the fascia & barge board and sofit as well as felt and battening the roof to make it almost waterproof from the top (I still need to add the lead flashing against the wall). 

 I splashed out with the timber for the barge and fascia and brought rough sawn Accoya that I planned up. This wood is meant to be some of the most durable out there due to the way it's been treated and I have very little intention of redoing the timber work on this porch anytime soon! 

The detailing takes the time

Hopefully things should move a little faster now. next I need to get the windows ordered and tiles for the roof, fit a new front door, insulate the ceiling and clean up all the reclaimed quarry tiles I've got for the floor. 

Breaking something like this into little jobs is the best way in my head to make it seem manageable.

Porch Progress - Cut Roof On

Last week Dill, my bricklayer, came for a day and managed to get he porch up to wall plate. That's the piece of wood on top of the block work that the roof sits on. 

Porch up to plate

 This then meant that he didn't have to come back until I've cut the roof on to the porch, as he need the rafters to guide his brickwork. 

I think he was hoping I'd take ages to get round to it, as he's really busy at the moment, but yesterday afternoon I managed to get the carcasing timber for the roof up. 

A roof of any size is awkward on your own, just to get he first few rafters up with the ridge board but I managed okay off the top of my wobbly step ladder!

The frist two rafters cut just to check the pitch of the roof - 35 degrees

Rafters and ridge board up - the ridge board won't really be needed as I'm going to put in a ridge beam straight underneath it, but I need it to keep the roof up  until the brickwork is at a level to hold the beam.
Having the beam will mean I don't need any ceiling collars so the inside can be vaulted and make the porch feel much bigger.

Roof on 

From the side

Feels a little closer to completion, although I know their is lots to do yet. Trying to fit it in here and there is difficult but good practice for when we start the extension properly! Hopefully my bricklayer will be back soon and then I can get the windows and door fitted!

Anyone else do any work to their house over the weekend?

Porch Up To Damp

Some more progress on the porch over the last couple of weeks.

Last Saturday (2nd of May) a mate of mine, Dill, came over and started on some of the brick work and setting out of the porch and another project I've got going on (more of that another time). I've worked with him lots over the last few years and he's a really good bricklayer and roofer (Some of the projects we've done together can be seen here and here although there are many more) and he's a real hard worker. I made sure that he had everything he needed and all his materials were close to hand.

 He got the brick and block work up to damp course ready for concreting.

This Sunday just gone my dad and brother came over and helped me get the concrete in and done.

Inside and outside were filled with scalpings, the inside is then blinded with sand to prevent any stones piercing the plastic. 

first layer of plastic going in

Insulation added to the floor (75mm) and a 25mm insulation going around the perimeter  of the walls to prevent cold bridges. Another layer of plastic was added on top of this to prevent the concrete reacting with the insulation, although I think this might be an unnecessary step it's on my plans so I do it!
Levels are all worked out from the oak floor inside, allowing enough for quarry tiles, adhesive and then 150mm of concrete.

Concreting finished! 

I'm really pleased to have the porch up to this level (up to damp as we'd say in the building trade). I now need to wait a few weeks for the bricks to come as they have to be ordered in and there's a bit of a shortage at the moment. I already have a door to fit (the old one is coming out as it's on it's last legs) but I need to source some windows and get the materials for the roof sorted. In the meantime we can use the front door again!  

I hope that I can get this porch finished fairly quickly and then get cracking with the the real bulk of the extension, the propect of a bigger kitchen is a real incentive at the moment! That said there are so many things I need to do first it's a little daunting (lots of drainage, manholes, walls, fuel tanks, boilers, etc)! 

Porch Footings And Digger Work

Dad came over on the weekend so we could start on the porch and a little project in the back garden. He came in his usual style, with lots of equipped and machinery, there was even a different dumper for me to play with (I'm not aloud on the digger when he's here!). 

The front door before work started. 

The overgrown area of the back garden. The picture doesn't show it but there's an old dog pen in that mess that needed pulling out with the digger

Removing some horribly invasive shrub. Unfortunately it also showed us how unstable the garden wall is in the back garden.

Digging the footings for the porch. I did very little with a spade, most was done with the digger, luckily

The footings dug. even though it's just the porch we went to the same depth as the house footings. Building inspector was happy.

Concrete poured in. I went for quite a deep fill as it saves a lot of brick and block work. 

Dad's dog found it hard work as well!

I've got a bricklaying friend coming round on Monday to bring the brick and block work up to damp, plus some jobs in the garden and to see what he suggests with the wobbly wall. Hopefully the porch won't take too long and then we can crack on with the extension, although I'm sure it's my bits that will take the time!

Reclaimed Quarry Tile Floor

Well today I got the flooring for our new porch.

Trouble is I haven't built the porch yet!

 Still I was on a job and these quarry tiles were up for grabs so I decided to get them in advance for our future porch.

I think these reclaimed tiles will look amazing when they're cleaned up and they're very in period for our 1950's home. I love a being able to fit a floor covering like this as you know it will last forever and will be great for an area filled with muddy boots and wellies!