Any country house will be transformed if it is complemented by a beautiful porch with original railings and a reliable visor. You can equip a building with different types of structures, each of which can become its decoration.
Popular design solutions
The porch can be very different - simple or non-standard, open or closed, with or without a roof. But the basic rule of choice should be a harmonious ratio of the parameters of the main building and the site with the steps. Only in this way the entrance porch will complement the appearance of the house, and not spoil it. As standard, it has several steps and a small platform, which often acts as a terrace or porch. Depending on the design features, the porch can be:
- attached: it is made out in the form of a simple platform located in front of the entrance to the house, if the structure is wooden, it is recommended to attach the porch directly to the log house;
- built-in: in this embodiment, the porch is erected together with the house, which is fixed in the project.
Proven are structures in the form of a covered platform with a canopy. If you want to arrange a beautiful front door, the arrangement of the porch should be paid closer attention. In this case, you can use the two-flight stairs with intermediate platforms, which are complemented by a railing or a visor.
What design?
The porch design can be very different, depending on many factors. Someone likes a simple design using wooden balusters, and someone likes to surprise and chooses openwork railings with wrought iron elements. Since the porch is an external extension, it can be supplemented with a canopy, the support of which will be concrete, brick, wooden elements. The canopy will not only complement the overall exterior composition, but also protect the steps from external factors.
How to make a choice?
How to choose a porch design? We offer some of the most popular destinations:
- porch flowing into the terrace: if the size of a country house allows, you can always build not only the entrance to the housing, but also a complete recreation area in the open air, but under a canopy;
- in two-story mansions, the porch is often combined with a balcony, while the main decorative elements - railings and balusters - are made in the same style;
- a stone or brick extension can be supplemented with other materials - plastic, glass, making it easy to create a specific facade ensemble;
- emphasize the integrity and unity of the composition can be color - for example, pick up a beautiful railing for the porch with black forging and repeat it in the design of the supports or visor.
In any case, the design should be thought out in such a way that the exterior of the building looks harmonious.
Popular solutions
For the design of the porch, you can use a variety of ideas. So, the classic is always in fashion, which involves strict and seasoned lines. The classic is expressed in the installation of a gable canopy, the porch itself is often decorated with columns and railings with original balusters.
The traditional Russian style suggests the presence of ornate patterns, carved balusters, and all elements are made of wood. Proponents of the European style prefer neat designs of the correct form with restrained lines.
Design Features
The porch is a seemingly compact extension, but its construction must necessarily be fixed in the corresponding project. It is developed taking into account the material from which the house is built, the climatic conditions in which it is operated. Also important are such parameters as the proportions and dimensions of the house, because the porch in size should be in harmony with the main appearance and physical parameters of the structure.
The design of the porch in a standard form involves attention to a number of factors that relate to design decisions. When designing, the form of the extension is taken into account:
- Rectangular and square - the easiest option, since its construction requires a flat area.
- L-shaped is most often used in the construction of a terrace. That is, according to the project, it turns out that the porch smoothly passes into the terrace, which is located along one of the walls. Such a solution is convenient because in the available space it is possible to arrange a summer kitchen or a recreation area.
- The round and semicircular porch is the most spectacular option, which allows you to jointly arrange both the site and the steps of the house in the form of a circle.
When drawing up drawings, it is important to pay attention to the foundation. The depth of its laying depends on how deep the residential building itself is laid. If the tape foundation is selected, it can be combined with the main one. It is easier to build an independent foundation, but there is a risk that cracks form between the house and the porch as it shrinks.
Important: design is necessarily based on generally accepted standards that regulate the height of the porch fencing (from 0.8 m) and the clearance between vertical elements (up to 0.1 m).
Open or closed?
An important point in the design is to decide whether the porch will be open or closed. With the open version, the entrance to the house is simply steps that are not limited by either partitions or walls. A closed porch is chosen if there is a need to separate the inner living space from a busy road or noise from the street. In this case, the design is a porch with a dressing room, where you can change shoes, leave things.
A simple visor can be erected above the closed porch, or a canopy can be built. Such a complex will already act as a covered porch, protected from above. The closed porch is protected from all sides and acts as a kind of vestibule leading to the house. It is advisable to choose such configurations for several reasons:
- the room will be protected from the sun, rain, snow, dirt,
- the roof, which continues the roof of the house, will give the entrance group harmony.
Another option for arranging the porch is the terrace, that is, an extended version of the open area. She is chosen for large country houses. When drafting the porch, it is necessary to indicate from which materials it will be built. There are actually a lot of options, and all of them are very interesting.
From wood
The wooden porch looks beautiful against the background of a house made of logs, profiled timber. Fans of a rustic style choose this design. Wood is a unique material that is easy to work with, creating a wide variety of design solutions. The only caveat is the mandatory impregnation of wood to protect against destruction due to external factors.
A beautiful wooden porch is a good solution for any home, especially if it is decorated with carved elements. After the construction of the structure, the platform with steps can be finished in various ways, for example, colored glazing based on mosaics.
Concrete
The concrete porch looks monumental and powerful. A solid design is durable, but only if it is built taking into account the requirements of SNiPs. The process of creating such a porch involves the use of wooden formwork, into which concrete mixture is poured. The formwork is created from strong boards that will withstand concrete. The mixture is created from cement grade M400, sand, gravel or any other filler are added there. A frame is created on the facade of the house of wood, where the finished mixture is poured. After drying, the boards are removed and the porch of concrete is ready for use.
By the way, it is worth remembering that a concrete or brick round porch requires laying the foundation at a sufficient depth - below the freezing level. Otherwise, the base of the extension will quickly collapse under the influence of moisture, and cracks will appear.
How to build?
To make the porch strong, it is advisable to erect it at the stage of building a house. In this case, the structure will be protected from deformation and cracking, since the extension and the main building will have a common base and waterproofing.
But any porch - made of wood, concrete, metal - can also be erected as a separate extension after calculating the dimensions of the future extension. To build a porch, you need to perform several actions:
- To think over drawings in which it is necessary to decide on the form of an extension, its sizes and arrangement on a building facade.
- Foundation construction. It is necessary if construction is carried out in areas where it often rains and freezes. If there is no foundation, the porch will deform and warp over time. Depending on the type of construction, the foundation can be either strip or slab.
- The foundation on top is supplemented with a sand or gravel cushion, then with a reinforcing frame, to create which you can use metal reinforcement with a diameter of 10-12 mm.
- The prepared structure is poured with concrete and rammed.
- To create a beautiful porch, you need to think about what the steps will be. They are built of bricks and blocks, and additionally finished with a number of materials.
If the porch is closed, you can build walls of brick. But the masonry must be waterproofed. Protective operations play an important role, since a closed vestibule will serve as a reliable barrier to precipitation inside the building.
How steps are created
Steps in the porch play an important role. During installation, attention must be paid to ensure that the extension is not only solid, but also smooth and neat. Before installing the steps, a site is prepared based on the drawings. Then the flooring is beaten, the steps are fixed. If the porch construction is complex, then you will have to prepare all the elements - ledges for risers, tread - in advance and assemble them before the construction of the extension. Otherwise, alterations can easily be required if the porch is not assembled correctly.
What is the roof?
It’s very easy to create a beautiful porch if you add it with an original roof. It is necessarily attached to the facade to prevent possible deformation as the extension is used. In the simplest version, the roof is created in the form of a wooden structure based on the support tier of timber, the installation of which is carried out around the entire perimeter of the extension.
The second popular option is a one-slope roof, which includes a rafter system and roofing material. To create a harmonious space, the interior of the porch is often subjected to decoration.