Opening Up a Front Porch

When the home on the finish of the cul-de-sac hasn’t modified in 28 years, it’s time for some entrance porch rehab.

This home belongs to Jeff and Eliese McAllister. The couple, often known as Lolli and Pop to their grandchildren, need to replace the entrance porch on “Camp Lollipop” so their grandchildren can get pleasure from their entrance yard as a lot as their kids did whereas rising up.

The porch is blocked off by tall shrubs and is simply too slender for the couple to comfortably sit and watch their grandchildren play.

And that’s the place we may also help!

The Tasks

Opening Up the Entrance Porch

Eradicating the shrubs and handrails blocking Jeff and Eliese’s front-yard view is our first huge job.

We now have to pressure-wash the home to create a clear slate to start out our work. Jeff and I take away shrubs, with the assistance of the couple’s grandsons, whereas Chelsea and Eliese deal with the handrails. 

As a result of the wooden handrails aren’t handled, they’re rotting away. So, knocking them out with a sledgehammer is the easiest way to open up the porch — and, perhaps, launch some pressure alongside the best way.

After eradicating the handrails, we apply putty and sand the columns so it’s like they have been by no means there, to start with.

Repairing the Shutters and Dormers

This curb attraction makeover requires greater than opening up the entrance porch. We’ve observed some issues that wanted speedy fixes!

First, we restore the bottom flooring’s broken shutters. Then, we stand up on the roof to restore siding on the dormers. Of the 12 shutters on the entrance of this home, only one set has a little bit wooden rot. So, Jeff doesn’t need to exchange all of them.

Since none of those items have been normal lumber sizes, we needed to lower them down on the desk noticed. Chelsea used the outdated items as a sample to chop new items from the fiber cement materials.

Luckily, we had a brand new Woodcraft WoodRiver Common Goal Carbide Tipped Noticed Blade. Matching the angles on the underside piece was a little bit trickier, however as soon as we primed the wooden and put the items in place, it labored fairly nicely!

Portray the Entrance Porch

After all of the repairs have been performed, we put a recent coat of paint on the siding, trim and entrance porch ceiling. The inexperienced shutters clashed with the red-tinted wooden door, so we painted them grey to tone it down.

The concrete on the entrance porch has seen higher days. As a substitute of gutting the concrete, we painted a sample on it utilizing a stencil! It’s an effective way to offer your concrete a recent look with out breaking the financial institution.

Watch “The best way to Stencil a Sample on a Concrete Porch” for the step-by-step information and supplies checklist.

Planting New Flowerbeds

Subsequent, we added some recent landscaping. Earlier than, the crops have been too concentrated on the entrance of the porch, so we unfold them out to keep up the open area really feel.

Lastly, we put down a recent layer of pine straw to complete off the flowerbed.

We additionally:

• Added deal with numbers to the porch column
• Eliminated the intercom/doorbell
• Put in a brand new porch gentle
• Put in soffit vents
• Changed the rocking chairs

Publish-Manufacturing Ideas

This entrance porch rehab actually brings issues full circle: Jeff and Eliese’s youngsters grew up right here, and now they’re seeing their grandkids develop right here.

At one level, the couple thought of promoting the home. However with this new entrance yard, they’re blissful to have the ability to keep within the dwelling they raised their youngsters, and now, their grandkids as nicely.

And we did all of it for simply $1,200 in supplies.