Planned Porch Updates & All the Deets (Including Cost) for Adding a Porch To Your Home

Welcome to the 578th Metamorphosis Monday!

The first day of spring is less than a month away now. I’m so excited it will soon be here! For this week’s Met Monday, I’m sharing an update I’m working on, as well as linking out to some previous posts that I hope will be helpful for anyone who may be considering adding either a screened porch or a front porch to their home.

I added on this screened porch back in 2008 and it quickly became my favorite room in my home. It feels very much like another room when you’re on the porch, just a room with a view and the sounds of nature.

 

If you’ve been thinking about adding on a screened porch but weren’t sure where to start, check out these previous posts where I go into quite a bit of detail regarding the process to add on my two porches.

Screened Porches: How Much Do They Cost to Build?

9 Great Features for Your Screened Porch

51 Reasons You Need a Screened Porch 

Soft Lighting for Relaxing on Porch at Night

 

I also added a small front porch to my home at the same time I added the screened porch. It transformed the front of my home, definitely adding to its curb appeal. On rainy days, friends and family no longer have to stand outside in the rain waiting for me to get to the door to let them in. Love that!

I also appreciate that package deliveries no longer have to set out in the rain when I’m away. Did I mention porches are great fun to decorate for holidays and seasons? They truly are! They are also great places to sit and read a good book on a pretty day. Porches have a tendency to bring neighbors together, which is always a wonderful thing!

You can read more about the process and cost involved to add on this front porch in this post: How Much Does It Cost To Build a Front Porch?

 

The front porch will be getting a whole new paint job this spring. It’s time since it hasn’t been painted since it was built in 2008. I’m looking forward to sharing that process with you because there will be some special issues the painters will be dealing with and I think you may find it helpful in your porch building or painting projects.

This past fall I hired, then fired two painting companies before they even got started. I won’t bore you with all the details but the simple issue with both companies was the same. The salesperson/estimator who came out in both cases talked a good talk, but on the day the painting was to commence, they sent painters who knew absolutely nothing about our prior discussion regarding how the peeling columns were going to be handled.

On top of that, the second company I hired, sent out a painter who didn’t realize he was supposed to pressure wash my back decks and the exterior of the screened porch, not to mention he had no idea what had been discussed/planned for the porch columns. Surprisingly, both companies came recommended via our neighbor site and had great reviews on Google.

I’ve done too many home renovation projects and had my home painted too many times to not recognize these as red flags. I started all over getting estimates this month and I’ve narrowed it down to two companies.

Once I decide on a paint company, I’ll share more about the porch painting, as well as some of the other touch-up/renovations that will take place around the same time.

Hope your week is off to a great start! Looking forward to all the wonderful Before and Afters linked for this week’s Met Monday!

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Comments

  1. Debra Matcovich says

    Hi, I’ve had the same experience with the left not knowing what the right was doing. I hired someone to power wash my stone two level patio so we could replace the sand. So they power washed it to clean it. That doesn’t take the hard poly sand out. After more conversations and two days of hell. They took most of the sand out but all the sand was on every single surface, patio furniture, railings, pillows and plants. I had to finish up with a tool and a back breaking job to get it ready for new sand. Home projects are not easy.

    • Ugh, that sounds like some of the experiences I’ve had in the past around here. It’s really hard to find companies that will treat a smaller job like mine with the same care/attention a big job gets. I’ve had so many negative experiences over the years, if I see any kind of red flag, I will not use a company. Home renovations should not have to be this stressful. Sorry you went through that nightmare, Debra!

  2. Franki Parde says

    Here we goooo…. We, for the first time, hired a company to “solid stain” log cabin, decks, garage, piers, gazebo…the summer that really wasn’t. Goodluck with yours…it “needs done these projects” but…… franki

  3. Thanks for hosting and all the info on the porches. I have a screened porch in the backyard, but have always wanted a real room addition in the back.

  4. Susan,
    Thanks so much for hosting each week!!
    Hugs,
    Debbie

  5. Hi Susan,

    Do you have kitties? I’m a kitty-lover.

    You make something so sophisticated and difficult look easy.

    Wendy in Suwanee

    • Not now. I have my entire life until a few years ago when I lost my sweet Max to cancer. I’ve never done well (understatement of the world) when a kitty passed but the older I’ve gotten, the harder it hits me. For my mental health, I’ve more or less decided to not get any more kitties. Also, since I’ve been traveling a lot more in recent years, I would feel bad leaving them alone with someone just checking in. If I ever do get another cat, I would probably get two, but I keep remembering what it was like when I lost Max and that keeps me from doing it. Just can’t ever go through that again.

      Thanks, Wendy! Appreciate that so much! ♥

      • Oh, Susan, our orange baby is named Max. I was actually hoping it would get easier as I get older.

        I agree w/ you: I’d get two so they’d have each other when I’m not right there.

        I’m a travel writer and it’s the one thing that I really don’t enjoy about my job: leaving our Germany shepherd, River, and our Max.

        As soon as I get my act together, I want to send you photos of plates my husband insisted have. He bought two sets so that each of my boys can leave w/ a set.

        Wendy in Suwanee

  6. Good for you Susan! I’ve had both excellent and hideous contractor experiences, and have definitely learned it’s SO much better to heed those red flags. I hope your heeding pays off this time! 🙂

    Thanks so much for hosting – hope you have a lovely week!

  7. Linda Page Gurganus says

    I hope you find a great paint crew to spruce up your deck and front porch. Your home is too nice to let just any old dunce tackle it!!! Also, knowing you, you will never settle for a halfway job. Hang in there!

  8. Thank you so much for hosting! This week I am sharing how to turn photos into artwork! Hope you have a wonderful week!

  9. Cyndi Raines says

    Awww, yes, with thoughts of spring comes also the thoughts of the odd job repairs, the back deck staining, and all the painting that needs to be done on all my picket fences. While I am eager for spring, I’m also weighing in on all that work. However, I always get excited about how pretty it all looks when done, so I am trying to keep my focus on thoughts like, “doing what I can each day and it will eventually get done” so that I am not totally overwhelmed and also considering hiring one of the older youths in our church to assist with painting the fencing near the woods. That would give them some spending money and make it not so labor intensive on us, along with having fun with a teenager. The person I have in mind is a good worker and should prove helpful. Then there’s the redoing of the flower bed by the garage, the splitting of the hostas, the garden shed porch roof needs reshingled, ….oh, yea, the list goes on…lol. Eager to see what plans /projects you have in the works and I totally agree with you on contractors. If you have that red flag, gut feeling follow it!

  10. I experienced the same. I have a front porch and brick columns with caps to do and I only had them painted once. The wood was green so it was 5 yrs later when I had them painted. You would have thought they would take the paint. They peel and look terrible and I’ve been told many things but a handyman just told me to use a special paint that is like concrete said it adheres anything and I won’t be disappointing. He said the name and I can’t remember but I do remember seeing it advertised and its expensive.

  11. I’m trying to catch up on all the posts I have missed. Somehow I quit receiving my emails from your blog. I checked spam and found nothing there so I’m guessing it was just a glitch of some sort. Anyway, I’m back and catching up!

    • Are they coming again now, Vicki? That’s so odd that they stopped coming. I had one reader who wasn’t getting my emails and discovered her virus protection or security thing on her computer was somehow filtering them out and sticking them into a folder. I think she had McAfee and it had its own filtering system.

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