theBusheys.com > photos > new front porch

We've been thinking about this project for while, but the winter weather finally forced us to deal with our rotting wood porch which was depositing flakes of paint all over our front yard.

Before-and-after shots can be so dramatic. This is clearly an improvement. (I can't believe we lived with those old steps for so long!)

Before we decided to replace the decking, I thought I might be able to strip the paint and re-finish the existing fir flooring. After a whole afternoon, two different kinds of chemical stripper, an electric sander, and lots of elbow grease, this is what we had. At this point, we decided it was better to just rip it all out and start anew.

let the demolition begin.

The existing fir flooring had slipped beneath the shingles, but our new decking would be thicker, so we would have to change the detail a little bit.

Before we could attach any new flooring, we would first have to sister new joists onto the existing beams along the side of the house and add new aluminum flashing along both long ends.

We used Trex decking, which is a plastic-wood composite. We think it's one of the better-looking composites out there. Here, the pile of Winchester Grey decking sits in our driveway after being dropped off the day before.

Because trex is heavier than wood, we had to increase the number of stringers at the stairs. Trex is only rated to span 12" at stairs.

getting the spacing just right. We used special composite-wood screws for attaching the decking. We also added a piece of trex across the front of the deck, so that the ends of the boards weren't visible along the front edge. The ends of this stuff aren't very pretty to look at.

The decking is now down and Anna can't wait to get outside.

all done.