Brese Plane: Julie Wants a Porch, Part 3

Monday, February 4, 2013

Julie Wants a Porch, Part 3

As we continued to make progress on the porch it was time to work toward adding the feature that the old porch never had.....a roof. We wrapped the floor frame with some fiber cement siding and added a base of 5/4 x 6 vinyl as a platen for the screen walls that would come much later. This location required a material that was rot proof and even though I did not like the idea of using plastic in this case it was the practical solution.

The design being what it was required some tricky cuts on the top portions of the post. The top of the post had to receive the rim joist, which in our case was more of a component made in the shape of an angle, and the end joist had to rest on the outer edge approaching at a 10 degree angle. I resolved very quickly to the idea that these cuts would be made much easier with a good hand saw filed crosscut. I just happen to have a saw set up just this way. In fact it was a #9 back saw made for me by Ed Paik of Medallion tools. A beautiful tool featuring a thumb slot handle made from Ebony. I know that sounds like quite a refined saw for a construction project but it was the best tool for the job.

Once the tops of the post were cut it was time to stand them up into position and brace them in place.

The next step (below) was to place and fasten the rim joist into place and then fasten the two end joist into place. At this point we were secured to the house.

The post we used are laminated from select grade SYP and this material was also more of the KDAT (kiln dried after treatment) material that I mentioned in earlier post on the porch project.