Summer, cottage, rest - what could be better? Moreover, the country house has already been built, and there is a place where you can have a good rest with family and friends. That's just the porch of the house is temporary, and it looks kind of unfinished ... How to make a porch with a canopy with your own hands? The article will present to your attention options for solving this problem.
What is a porch?
Porch - an external extension in front of the front door of the house. This is a functionally necessary part of any building, which is designed to provide a comfortable transition for the visitor from the ground level to the floor plane of the first or ground floor.
In fact, this is a platform located directly in front of the building entrance, to which steps lead. It should be large enough to accommodate a few people. It is advisable to equip a canopy above the porch, which protects it and the people on it from precipitation.
Where to start the construction of the porch?
How to make a porch with a canopy do it yourself? First, the stages of the work should be carefully planned, then the design of the porch, its appearance, dimensions and proportions, the number and parameters of steps, the presence and height of the handrails, and other details should be considered. In particular, it is desirable that the porch has an odd number of steps. In this case, a person at the entrance steps onto the porch area with the same foot with which he began to rise.
Ergonomically, it is recommended to choose the height of the steps from 15 to 20 centimeters, and the depth - about 30. With large values of the indicated parameters, walking will become less convenient.
Overall porch design
It is recommended to choose it, starting from several factors. To begin with, it should be remembered that the porch is an architectural element of the building, which must be final in the design of the appearance of the building. Therefore, its design should be consistent with the overall design of the building and the surrounding landscape. The material from which the porch is made is required to harmonize with the material of the cladding of the building.
So, at wooden structures (from a bar or a rounded log) the wooden porch looks better. For buildings made of brick or building blocks, it is advisable to make the porch of the corresponding material or of metal.
The canopy cover should also be selected according to the roof material of the building. An alternative is the construction of polycarbonate (monolithic or cellular), which is selected by the color of the main roof of the building.
Porch features
When deciding how to make a porch with a canopy with your own hands, it is important to consider the following features.
During the construction of the porch, it is appropriate to form the slope of the steps a few degrees to the side of the building. This provides a natural removal of water from precipitation from surfaces.
Often a porch is enclosed with a railing. This element is optional and justifies itself for a relatively high structure (from a meter and above). For a low extension, the railing is often redundant. In any case, the choice of railing heights from 0.8 to 1.0 m is ergonomically justified. If there are children among the residents of the house, it is advisable to equip additional rails at a lower height.
For convenience, the porch can be equipped with such an optional element as a bench.
In relation to the size of the site, there are no standards and rules for all occasions. It must correspond to the functional purpose, which is determined by the owner of the structure. If it is only a matter of entry comfort, then 2-4 sq. M is enough. m. If there is an additional function of a place for rest (actually combined with the porch destination), then the area should be allocated more to place appropriate furniture, green spaces in pots or pots, other interior elements, to ensure free movement of visitors between them. By the way, before solving the problem of how to make a porch with a canopy with your own hands, a photo of already completed options is very useful to see.
Foundation
The practical implementation of the erection of the porch begins with the foundation. It should cover the entire porch area plus a flight of stairs. One option is to equip the foundation immediately when building a house. In this case, its material and method of arrangement can be chosen identical to the foundation of the building. Although making a single foundation of the porch and the house is not recommended. The fact is that the porch is obviously smaller in weight and, therefore, in the load on the soil, than the building itself. Therefore, during the operation of the building, when the soil is shrinking under the foundation, the magnitude of this shrinkage will be different for the building and the porch. As a result, a single foundation will crack and receive other flaws.
Another, more preferred option for arranging the foundation is to make it separately from the main foundation of the house. In this case, its type and implementation features should be calculated separately depending on the parameters of the porch itself.
So, for a wooden product, a columnar foundation is suitable, and for a brick or reinforced concrete it is better to choose the tape version. In any case, as for each foundation, it is advisable to lower the pivot points below the level of soil freezing in your area. This will allow during the operation of the building to avoid the troubles caused by soil heaving.
How to make a porch with a do-it-yourself canopy made of metal?
After completing the foundation, you can begin to equip the steps. For a porch with a canopy of metal, it is better to make steps of concrete or brick. Features of the arrangement of concrete steps are: the manufacture of formwork, the mandatory reinforcement of each step with a frame with a rod thickness of 10 mm, and the sequential casting of each step after the previous one has hardened. At the same time, it is better to concrete the metal poles for supporting the canopy over the porch when arranging the foundation. The external finish of the steps can be performed using ceramic or porcelain tiles, necessary for outdoor work, so that it does not collapse during operation from natural influences.
Brick steps are made of solid bricks sequentially from step to step, leaving the same gap between the bricks and making the displacement of the seams, as in ordinary brickwork. In this case, red brick should not be used, which, under the influence of temperature and humidity differences, begins to crumble and crumble over time.
The metal details of the canopy above the porch make metal elements similar to those already used in the design of the house, fence and landscape. This allows you to maintain a single style and exterior of the building. The canopy above the porch is made in the style of the existing roof of the building using the same coating or polycarbonate with a thickness of at least 8 mm. The size of the canopy should be such as to protrude 50 cm beyond the edges of the porch area, providing better protection from the atmospheric precipitation of both the structure itself and the people on it.
How to make a wooden porch with a canopy do it yourself?
The wooden porch is perfect for building from logs or beams, as well as for frame. The construction features are the use of a lightweight concrete foundation, fastening of a stepped wooden box on it, processing of wooden parts in contact with concrete with bitumen or machine oil (to extend the operating life).
Another way is the use of so-called kosoures - reinforced concrete beams located at an angle to the soil, on which the steps are mounted. It is important to provide waterproofing of the foundation and supports for kosour. Between themselves, the latter are fastened with a support board, fixed with spikes, and they are attached to the foundation of the building by the cutting method.
In both cases, the porch area is best secured to the beams protruding from the foundation of the building. The canopy above the porch is mounted using wooden supports and rafters. Decorating pillars with carvings similar to the design of other elements of the house will allow you to withstand the general style of construction.
Other features
How to make a porch with a canopy do it yourself in the country? You can use the recommendations given above. The main thing is to remember that this design should not only successfully fulfill its main function, but also serve as a decoration for a country house.
How to make a porch with a canopy do it yourself on the north side? In this case, it is advisable to provide a translucent polycarbonate shade in the general style of home decoration as additional material for the canopy, as well as additional lighting used in the dark.
Thus, the article provides information on resolving the issue of how to make a porch with a canopy with your own hands. We hope you find them useful.