What does it take to add a porch to an existing home?

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   First, the new porch must be designed. It should be large enough to do the job it is intended for. If you want to spend time sitting on the porch, that means 6 feet of depth, from the house out, minimum. 8 or 10 feet is better. It should be styled to blend with the style of the existing house in size, structure and detailing.

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   Working drawings showing all relevent details will need to be produced once the overall design is approved. A building permit must be obtained. All porches with roofs require building permits. The drawings and permit for an average porch cost around $1200.00 in 2022

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   Footings for a porch are usually either concrete columns with spread footings, or "helical piles" which are steel posts drilled  into the ground mechanically. Sometimes a porch has a full foundation just like a house. Some of our stone based porches have these. The first inspection is done when the excavation is complete and before any concrete has been poured. The porch framing is attached to the house at the floor, ceiling and roof levels.There a several types of attachment and they vary with the structure of the existing house.

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Once the structure is framed, and inspected, and roof framing, shingles, and flashing are installed. the floors, railings, soffits, fascia and finish carpentry can be done. Caulking, cleanup and a final inspection complete the construction process. The construction phase for an average porch takes 2 to 4 weeks. Painting and/or staining of the wood surfaces can be done once the wood has had some time to stabilize, which usually means a minimum of 60 days.Most of the pictures on this website were taken before that painting or staining was completed.

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Most average sized porches end up costing between $25,000 and $40,000, with larger more ambitious ones ranging up to about $80,000