Our front stairs have been an ugly mess since before we moved into the house. Originally overgrown by huge car-sized shrubs, we waited for years until getting up the nerve to clean things up. First we hacked the bushes apart and dragged them out with help from a jackhammer, shovels, chains, and the Scout, which only uncovered how poorly they were constructed (unfinished brick on either side, sloppy concrete work, and mismatched materials).
The weekend before Thanksgiving I bought a sledgehammer, dug out my masonry chisels, and got to work. Frighteningly, the only thing holding them together was the concrete adhesive I’d applied to the larger chunks back in 2009 before we hosted R&K’s baby shower.
As I tore them off and broke apart the larger chunks, I realized that as lousy as they’d been constructed, they covered up an even larger problem: the foundation under the doorway is open to the elements, meaning the crawlspace under the right side of the porch would be exposed if I tore the whole thing off. So, I figured I’d leave the first layer standing, shore up the side where it was open, and let Mr. Scout come in to build over the whole thing.
His first day’s progress looked great; he put a header on the sill plate, dug two footers, and built the platform under the door.
The second day looked even better! With a little help, he got the second footers in, risers installed, and the whole deck framed out for use, knowing that it was going to snow the day before Thanksgiving and he wouldn’t be able to work on it. We spent some extra money to use Trex as our flooring material, and it looks great so far. I also spent some money on new light fixtures and installed them, and I think they go much better with the look of the house than the old plastic coach lights we inherited.
He came back yesterday and got the railings cut down, sheathed, and in place so the whole thing comes together nicely. Additionally he was able to reuse some of the leftover aluminum siding we saved from the side to cover both of the holes left by the old iron railing, which really cleans up the facade. (I’m going to spend some time this weekend hauling the old concrete away from the front of the house and filling in the holes).
Next up is the front door. We spec’ed out a twelve-lite over a single panel, which will open up the front hallway to light, stay architecturally true to the rest of the house, and make the whole entrance much friendlier. We might be able to get it in before Christmas, but I’m not going to hold anyone to that.
This whole project has me thinking about the brick I’ve got squirreled away under the back porch. This spring I want to rip up the rest of the concrete, put a solid substrata down, and replace the walkway with a careful herringbone pattern from the front sidewalk to the stairs to warm up the front of the house.