porch rebuild

It’s hard for me to believe that I started tearing apart and rebuilding my screened in porch in 2012.  It only took me 6 years to get this project finished.

The problem was that the previous owners had built the porch out of untreated wood and let’s just say, that doesn’t hold up for very long to the outside elements.  This is a photo of one of the corners that was rotting away.

I started in this corner where the gutter was overflowing thinking this was the extent of the rot, but not so.  With every section I tore out, the rotting process was in full gear.

And this is how it looked after I replaced the sides.  I added solid wood to the top of each section to eliminate the slope, and hopefully minimize the moisture blowing in, plus a new light fixture.

Now skip ahead to 2017 when I took a week of vacation in May to tackle replacing the other two sides that were also rotting away.

I only took down and replaced one section at a time in fear that the whole thing might collapse if I did it all at once.  So, I worked my way around both sides.  This was no easy feat because absolutely nothing on this porch was or is square.

At the end of day 2 everything that was rotted was removed and replaced. Amazingly and gratefully, some of the posts were still good, but the east side of the porch was totally rotted.  All in all, I was quite happy because the worst was behind me and the fun part of trimming it out came next.

At this point 2 sides of the screened porch were replaced, I was working on trimming it out and the screen was not in yet. Didn’t look so good at this point because the trim was a combination of white treated wood I was able to salvage and reuse, gray treated wood I was able to take off the chicken run since they are gone, and new treated wood that is unpainted. The downspout is temporarily attached until the painting is finished and I can move the barrel back in place. It was a few months before I could paint it all since I had to wait for the treated wood to dry out. But I was relieved to be through the worst of it.

Several months later after allowing the treated wood to dry, I put two coats of paint on the exterior and it is not only looking better, but now it is stable again.

But now it is 2018, and I had never finished trimming out or painting the inside of the porch.  Instead of thinking of my screened porch as a place to relax, all I saw when I looked at it was a place that still had lots of unfinished projects to do.

So, I took another week of vacation last week and started by trimming out the screens.  Before and after photos.

I glued sheets of beadboard to the bottom with Liquid Nails to dress up the bottom of the sections.  The nailed pieces are just there to hold them in place until they dry.

The solid top sections got dressed up with new plywood and I changed out the light fixtures.

And then, lots and lots of painting to bring it to this point.

A sign I made with Photoshop and an old vintage chippy window frame.  The only thing I actually do on this list is listen to the birds and take lots of naps.  I hope to change that this summer.

A vintage black metal side cart for serving or storage.

Old vintage tools I found at Springfield a couple weeks ago.

Seating for a meal.

And more seating for two for chatting, reading, napping, or just relaxing.

It’s time to sit back, relax, and enjoy the fruit of my labor.  If only it wasn’t so hot and humid already . . . feels more like mid July than May.  I think the next purchase needs to be a revolving fan.

Linking to A Stroll Thru Life for Inspire Me Tuesdays.