|
When we bought our duplex in Lakewood, we knew one of the most significant projects was the reconstruction of our front porch. We hired a contractor to complete most of the work (as required by our renovation loan). As you can see from the first several photos, there was quite some damage to the roof of our front porch. Moisture had penetrated the shingles and cause the wood to rot and mold. It was hazardous and needed to be completely rebuilt. The idea was to replicate the original design intent for this 1903 colonial home. We couldn't find the original drawings or any photos of the original construction, but based on our knowledge and on other similar homes in the area, we came up with this design. See the construction process below.   Here is a close-up of the most extreme water-damaged area on our front porch. It is obvious that this could not be repaired and needed to be re-built.  On the first day, the top level was demolished--including the addition that was built on later. The exterior wall was then framed in and water-proofed with Tyvek.  Let the framing begin! We made sure to add in additional perpendicular joists for added support and for mounting the bead board ceiling. By the third day the porch was completely demolished except for the floor of the first floor and the first floor columns. The columns were braced in place and the floor that was left was patched (it needed some love!). The intent for the columns was to scrape and sand then paint when the work is complete.   Here is a good tip: make sure to stain and poly bead board before you install it. Also make sure to poly the back side of the bead board to prolong the life of your ceiling. This will keep you from doing some back-breaking work if you try to finish the wood after it's installed. Here's a photo of my garage while we were in the process of staining the wood:  Here's a photo of the porch once the bead board is installed, the siding is complete, and the lights are in. Notice the added exterior outlet and the new window and columns!  Here is the final (almost complete) product:  The before and after shot speaks 1000 words! 
0 Comments
 As mentioned in the previous post, the majority of the renovation work on our new duplex in Lakewood involved rebuilding the front porch. That meant removing the second floor roof, ceiling, and floor; included the addition that was poorly added to the home (never do that!). We wanted to maintain the look and feel of a historical Lakewood Colonial while using new materials. We new that we could not replicate the wood columns that were original to the home so we had to use fiberglass columns. We also specified a bead board ceiling and a new vinyl window on the second floor (see above). Maggie (my fiance) worked on the drawing above while I helped with the design. These are the documents we submitted to the contractor and to the city for approval. Maintaining the original integrity of this beautiful Lakewood home was our intent from the very beginning and we wanted to make sure the design was in line with the historical character of the home.   When we moved into our house several years ago, we had a laundry list of renovation projects that kept us busy. One of the most exciting projects was constructing a built-in pantry for our kitchen. Our new kitchen is much bigger than our prior kitchen, but it lacked some vital storage space. We wanted a pantry to store our dry goods, spices, cereal, etc. Luckily, our kitchen was adjacent to our guest bathroom; which had a decent amount of unused space that we could use for the kitchen. Here are some before photos of the spaces I am talking about:  So this is our kitchen (above) and here is our bathroom, which is adjacent to the space:   First step was to demo mark with a score line using a utility knife the area of drywall we wanted to demo. Then i used a small pry bar and hammer to peel away the layer of drywall on each side of the room. For the floor, we wanted to keep the existing tile. The best way to selectively remove tile floor is to use a utility knife. First score the grout lines between the tile you are going to remove. Then use a pry bar and a hammer to pop up the tile. More than likely the mortar unerneath the tile will come up as well and there will be some subfloor repairs that you will need to address. Luckily for us, as you can see in the photo above, the subfloor was mostly intact when we removed the tile. The next step, which i didnt document, was to install an elbow for the floor register so we could install a vent on the face of the new wall.  Next I framed in the opening by removing the existing studs and placing new studs in between the existing layers of drywall. Then I made some subfloor repairs and installed the bottom plates for the new stud walls.   Next I used straight 2x4's to frame out the wall for the pantry and storage niche in the bathroom.   Because I was going to keep the existing ceiling, I was strategic about the demo to the ceiling by using a utility knife and framing the wall piece by piece (bottom plate first, then top plate, then studs in between) rather than building the wall complete like is typically done. This way i avoid unnecessary demo in the ceiling that is usually required in order to squeeze the new wall in.   Here is the finished product in the bathroom. I built some containers out of old pallets. I installed aluminum angles to hold stained pine shelves. Since this photo we have replaced the crappy vinyl wall base with poplar 1x6 and molding to match the original. Im planning on replacing the pallet wood with something more long term... but for now, it works.  The finished product. We used a pantry from IKEA and sized the opening to fit.    |
AUTHORBrandon E. Young 
ARCHIVES
February 2021
CATEGORIES
All
|