TORNADO Damage & Porch Depth & Floor

3 years ago

last modified: 3 years ago

Last week our home was in the path of an EF1 tornado which did major damage to our landscape and tore our front porch roof down. The porch was never deep-enough to be useful and was more-or-less a walkway for the front. We intend to have it rebuilt and are going to add about 2 feet in depth to make it more functional. My dilemma….Our porch surface is covered with a brick that I love and is no longer available. If I add to the depth, I have 2 choices…remove the brick and use something new OR keep the brick and use another material to frame it in by at least 2 feet in front. I do not know if this look will be good, overall, but have considered pvc deck planks on dark hickory to match our new doors. I would like to know if any designers could give input to this topic. I wanted to add that we lost a much-loved maple tree that was over 40 years old. We watched birds feed from various feeders every morning over coffee. My children and grandchildren have climbed this tree and squirrels were fun to watch as they jumped, scurried, played, and rested. SAD. The tornado blew this tree, which we planted in the early 80’s, onto the porch and roof.. We are afraid of planting another tree in that same place after the tornado damage. The whole tree covered the front half of our roof, which was scarey. By losing the tree, we lose a lot of nice summer shade. That is what inspired me to increase the depth of our porch, which will help add some shade to our living room with the large picture window. So this leads to my second question…will a SIX FOOT overhang produce enough shade to cut the glare in our living room? The window is south-facing in Michigan. Thanks in advance. Contracters will come soon and I have to have my ducks in a row. Side-note: We loast ALL TWELVE of our 12 mature landscape trees and hundreds of others that surround our property.

Featured Answer

Jennifer Hogan

3 years ago

Isn't that the same brick as the brick path in the yard? Could you use the brick from both for your patio and an entrance on either side of the patio without a brick path in front of the patio?

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Comments (7)

Emily
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
Sorry to hear about the damage the storm did at your home. You're lucky that no one was hurt. by that huge tree coming down. I love your flooring to, so maybe something like this where you create a border effect with the new pavers.
dar76 thanked Emily
dar76
Original Author
3 years ago
Thank you, much. I’m going to consider doing that.
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Kendrah
3 years ago
I too love that brick and while it is no longer available, I would think that something similar is. I also think that a new brick will age in a few years of Michigan winters to look closer to what you have now. I would put all new brick in rather than cobbling together a border with a new brick along side the old. I'd study the light and hold up varying lenghts of boards to see what length casts a shadow.

Sorry for the loss of so many wonderful trees. It really hurts to see them go. I'm glad you are all safe and no injuries. That is the most important.
dar76 thanked Kendrah
dar76
Original Author
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
Thank you, Jennifer. That is something to consider. That brick is no longer produced but maybe I could recycle the front pathway onto the new porch surface. I’ll talk to the contractor. We still will need a walkway to the front porch, I believe, but maybe we could come up with another material for that purpose. Good thought. Your idea opened up new ideas. My husband did NOT want to have to enlarge our porch to the point where we would need to reinstall the walkway all over again. Maybe I can eliminate it ALTOGETHER and gain more space to replant shrubbery. Wow…I never thought of that.
dar76
Original Author
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
Kendrah…What a great idea about using a board to gauge the sunlight and how it will change the interior shade. I was thinking of trying to get helpers to hold out a tarp to do the same thing but one single board would also do that. Great idea. And thank you for your kind words. I’m thankful that we weren’t hurt. There was no warning and we were IN IT before we had time to get to our basement. Thankfully, it was ”only” trees and not a home lost, but it is a hard blow to see our finished property and mature trees GONE in an instant. It looks VERY ugly herer right now and a little over a week ago, everythingi was finished and beautiful. Like a bad haircut, ”It will grow back,” right?
dar76
Original Author
3 years ago
After the new porch is built, and IF they can use the brick for the porch floor, I thought I might see if I could hire someone to add that mortar schmear to the surface to make it look aged.