A porch or a deck is a nice way to spend a lazy summer sipping lemonade and just relax. You can even invite friends over and have a small get together on your deck. Ideas are many provided you have a porch.
Taking the Right Measurements
If you are handy with tools, then you can build your own porch. It is not easy as it looks. A lot of factors need to be taken into consideration to build one. First and foremost, you need to decide, where you want your porch or deck to be, whether at the front of the house or at the back.
Next you need to take a floor plan of your home and decide on the measurement of your deck or porch. When you are planning the size of the deck, ensure that you have enough space for your outdoor furniture and accessories.
Now building a deck or a porch requires the right tools. There are websites like http://www.nuttydiy.com that offer top picks about different tools along with the reviews. This not only saves on your time, but also ensures that you pick the right tool for the job.
Criteria for Building Porch or Decks
You simply cannot think about building porches or decks out of the blue. Factors such as where you live, weather conditions, type of soil, your home is built on, along with weight and slopes of the porches play a very important role here.
While preparing the foundation of the deck or porch, you need to ensure that it supports the weight of the porch or deck. This is the reason, why you might want need to place footings or create thicker walls so that it can support the weight of your porch or deck.
In the case of slopes, if you are planning on steeper slopes, then you might think of getting reinforced concrete columns (piers).
Essentials for Building a Porch
Now that you have come up with a floor plan for your deck or porch, below are the essential components that will go into building your deck or porch:
- Ledger Boards
- Rim boards and Bracings
- Screws and Nails
- Joists
- Deck Boards
- Column Supports for Roofs
Below are the steps that are required to build your deck or porch:
- Ledger boards needs to be attached to your home with the help of nails
- The rim boards need to be cut to the desired size and placed at right angle to the ledger boards
- The rim boards need to be supported with a bracing
- Next you need to drill holes for the priers and supports
- For the posts, the holes need to be filled with concrete
- Later on, the posts need to be squared and placed in the concrete
- The posts need to be secured with rim joists
- Next you need to mark the joist locations and later set them in the desired location
- For a better secured flooring, you can secure two mid joists to the main one
- Next come the deck boards that are placed over the joists and secured with nails
- After the flooring for the deck is complete, we need to build the roof
- For the roof, columns need to be inserted by cutting them into the right sizes
- These later need to be secured with nails
- For the stairs, you need to insert new posts into concrete and secure them to a rim joist
- Later the stair treads need to be cut and attached with the help of stringers
- Next come the stair railing, that need to be cut and positions
- These need to be attached to the porch posts
- You can even install pickets to the stair rails and secure them with rim joists and screws
Ensure that you have calculated the joist spacing and spans. You can even make use of joist hangers to attach joists to your porch or deck. Joists help to support the roof and floor of your deck. So, the larger your deck or porch, the larger will be your joist.
If you are looking at renovation ideas, apart from building your porch, then you can visit http://www.nuttydiy.com for ideas and tips. They can even offer you tip on building decks and porches on a budget.
Beautifying Your Deck
Now comes the fun part of building your deck or porch which is decorative. Porches and decks are a favorite escape spots for everyone. So, your porch or deck need to be lively and at the same time relaxing. If you are looking at ideas on how to decorate your deck or porch, then internet would be a wonderful medium.
Some unique and innovative ideas to bring life to your porch or deck would be:
- Painting the ceiling and floors with vibrant and soothing colors
- Having wood floorings for the porch or deck
- Accessorize your porch or deck with chairs and tables
- Cushions and rugs can be placed to give a appealing look
- You can have potted plants and lamps situated at the sides of the porch
- You can even go in for hanging lamps and plants
- Sideways or pathways can be decked with artificial green grass or decorative bricks
- You can even add a swing or arm chair where you can simply relax and enjoy the view
- For a cozier atmosphere, you can add scented candles that will help soothe you
- If you deck or patio is situated at the back of your house, you can even build a fire pit
- You can even mix and match different furniture and accessorize it frequently
- If you are handy with craft paper, then you can create origami and hang them on your porch
If you are an animal lover, you can even install a bird house and watch the chirpy fellows come in and go out.
Conclusion
Ensure that you get permission from the local authorities before you plan on building a deck or porch. Secondly you cannot do the job by yourself and might need to hire some extra hands for the job.
