Here is the spot pre snow removal.

An enclosed entry would be worth it to me.
1. You wouldn't have to dig yourself out of your house every time after a big snow.

2. You create a kind of air lock system where you come in one door, shut it, so when you open the door to enter your home the interior of your house isn't directly blasted with cold air/wind.

3. You have an entry where you can kick the snow off your boots before entering the house proper.

4. In warmer weather months, you have an attractive place for plants/flowers. :)

I agree with Llucy. I think it is a great idea. Especially in the summer if you have pesky bugs.

I don't know the direction your entry wall faces, and that would have a big effect on the placement of the new access door. To have some build up of heat in the winter, if it faces SOUTH, you'd be able to put stone on the floor (insulated beneath would be good, you know) and let it be a kind of 3 season sort of room, maybe a curved glass sort of thing....and if facing south would be warmer than faced any other direction.

If it faces north, it would need to be highly insulated and maybe before you do any paving, to add some heated flooring strips. I like the nice cedar shakes your home is sided with. I cannot tell which direction the front faces though, nor where you wish to place the new access doorway. In the end that we see in the picture above?

Make the outer wall as thick and as insulated as you can if it faces north. You know better than I do about living in an icy cold winter zone, since I'm down here along the Gulf of Mexico! But having that insulation there, and even just the walls themselves to serve as a wind break for those two doorways shown, that would help a lot with the heat issues of the home. .

Like someone said above, it would make a really nice mud room spot for on/off of heavy weather clothing.

Thank you all for responding. I will try to take better pictures. I have a ton of snow right now - hard to get a good shot. Maybe on snowshoes tomorrow.

The front of the house and the current door face south. The entry I usually use is on the porch on the west side. I have access to the porch on the north and south.

And I totally agree that insulation is a must on any side here in Maine. This weeks snow will make my house warmer but we had a serious cold snap without snow. -20 lows brrrrrr...

Well if you are going to just extend the roof to fill the gap as it is now it appears your door is going to still have to be at the end so you will be creating a walk through entrance. This would be great to have the entrance on the gable end instead where the snow falls. YES I think it would be worth it. Especially if you plan on living there a long time. We consider very change we make as to how it will effect us as we age. I would not want to have to shovel all that snow and consider it a fire safety situation. you could be snowed in at that door and if you only had one other door as an exit this could be a problem.

I doubt you will get much of a closet porch and all of that in that small space but just to have it covered would be great. Maybe not even close it in right now if finances are tight. Personally I would like it closed in for the air lock effect. and the snow would still drift to the door if left open.

You also need to consider the loss of light to the window that is there. If this is a bedroom you need to be sure you are not enclosing it if this is the only window out. Check code. Now if you were to move the door to the window you might be able to get a nice storage closet in the area between the window and door.

Your siding is very pretty.

What Shades says makes a lot of sense. She has experience as a city clerk where building permits and public safety re fire hazards are concerned. Even here where I live with no snow when it gets cold, I hear the fire trucks running regularly. You don't want to block yourself in.

I thought there were two doors, but now understand only the end of the walk is a door and the other a window. Yes, if you could move the entry door to the spot where window is, there is room for a closet and maybe a fold down bench to use when required, but folded up at other times.

Hmm.... Those are a couple of new ideas. Thanks. I do love the light from that window. We squished as many windows in as we could when building. Unfortunately it really interferes with where art or furniture can be located inside - and I have a collection of eclectic art from my eclectic family.

I guess I really have to get an estimate of a roof and of a room. And then think about it.

The door used to be on the east wall - on the right where the hugest pile of snow is piled. Bad idea.

Is your house two story? Is there a room above the window that is showing? If so you would have a lot of storage area in that top area of the new entry you might or might not close in. Even if you put a floor/ceiling. I just can not tell if the house has an upstairs that could access this area if closed in.

Here is a better photo. As you can see we have had a bit of snow. The gable end faces south. The porch where my main entrance is on the west side. You can kind of see the southern door to the porch.

And yes I have a second floor. We put in a kneewall on the second floor so the whole area is usable. Which makes the house a little tall for it's dimensions. In my dreams I would make a one story addition on the north side for a closet and small bedroom. I think it would improve the proportions. One dream at a time...

I'm not quite sure I understand what you're doing. Unless you have some type of overhang, moving the door out will leave you with the same snow problem. Yes, there would be an air space so the cold won't get into the house. Yes, there would be a mud room/plant room separating the 2 doors. But if the door is still unprotected with some type of room you'll still have the same snow problem. I have a small overhang over my front door. While it doesn't help with the blowing snow and I still get snow on the porch, my door has never been blocked in like it was before I added the overhang.
Just a thought.

The amount of snow piling on the gable end vs under the roof slope does not begin to compare. All the snow ice mess slides off the roof and solidifies.

I would do it. From what you are describing, winter would make this entrance/exit very dangerous to navigate.

Would a greenhouse type of addition be practical? That way you see get light through that window.

I feel if you just put a porch roof there the snow will still drift in there. You should close off the whole addition as a cold room. You will still have snow at the door entrance of course but the roof wont be dumping it in front of the door.

WOW your house is really pretty.

I would spend the money to close in the porch and add a second door on the end or move the existing door to the window and make it a long glass kind of door to let in as much light as possible. This would give you storage at the end of the room. Also if there is any way to enter what would be the filled in top part I would use that for storage for sure. We had under the eve storage in one house we had and it sure did hold a lot of stuff.

Thanks for the second photo.

Your house is very picturesque--it reminds of a shingled gambrel that we owned when our children were born. With three kids, it became too small very quickly, and we were working on an addition on the back when we sold the house.

How do you plan to treat the slope of the roof?
1) If you complete the current roof, will you need to re-do the metal on that section, incurring that additional expense?

2) Will you put a shed roof under the current roof line, following the existing slope? Probably the least expensive option.

3) Do a broken roof, as over the porch, with a different angle joining the roof at a higher point (as it appears in the pic), and incurring that expense also. Since you have the corresponding porch on the west side, would that be too much symmetry?

It seems that 1 & 2 will get you an enclosed hallway, but if you make the addition as wide as the porch, in roof option 3, with lots of windows, you'd have more room for shelves for plants along the outside wall, and you could put hooks on the interior wall (currently exterior) for coats, and shelves below for shoes and boots. Also you could extend the addition a couple of feet to the north, wrapping that corner, and make a closet in that spot, if you need the storage space. Your roof lines would match on each side, but it would cost more. :[

It's cold and snowy here, too (not as snowy as your location!) so I will dream with you. In the exterior corner 'alcove' created by building the wider addition, you could place a potting bench along the wall, extending the greenhouse theme.

How much wider is the porch than the bump-out on the east side?

Thank you. I like my little house - though I would do a few things very differently. Ah well.

I had been thinking #2 as far as the roof. Expense wise. I will consider #3. My understanding of these kind of rooves is that one would have to replace all. I love the fact that the roof sheds snow.

I dream of making an addition few feet wider. My concern with that is the wider I go the lower the roofline will be from the inside. But even a foot or so would make the space more usable. And I had thought about a tiny closet wrapping around to the north.

And I had spent all last summer and fall thinking I should finish closing in the porch on the west side. I love using the space in the spring summer fall... That it would be a more effective use of my money. It is halfway there already. It is a much more usable space at 8'x24' rather than 4'x8'. It may still be the case but as soon as snow falls I remember my doorway issue.

I was in a housefire as a child. We came through fine though the house did not. I don't remember it much but I remember the impression it left on my parents. So a second doorway with accessability all year seems very valuable.

More immediately and way off topic I have someone coming soon hopefully to work on my 'kitchen' - I have started to reorganize that area this fall. I now have a back up propane heater and my water tanks are now in a closet. The closet now has big (very full) shelves over the tanks - swoon. Next I want to have a proper cabinet for my big antique cast iron sink. Some open shelves above. And a nook for a 24" washing machine - a future swoon.

I will try to post more photos.

Sorry for the rambling post. It is very late and I appreciate your feedback so much!!!

Cute house! After seeing the second picture, if it were mine I'd probably just extend the roof line to redirect the snow. Agree that finishing the enclosed larger porch would be the most effective use of money.

I had a kitchen fire many years ago. No one injured and minimal damage fortunately, but I've been very conscious about having unblocked doors ever since. I know I'd be a little paranoid about the roof dumping enough snow to prevent getting out that door easily if I had to get out in a hurry.

Cute house! After seeing the second picture, if it were mine I'd probably just extend the roof line to redirect the snow. Agree that finishing the enclosed larger porch would be the most effective use of money.

I had a kitchen fire many years ago. No one injured and minimal damage fortunately, but I've been very conscious about having unblocked doors ever since. I know I'd be a little paranoid about the roof dumping enough snow to prevent getting out that door easily if I had to get out in a hurry.