The porch is an architectural element that completes the construction of the house. It is being built already at the final stage of construction. But the way it will be determined at the design stage
The porch of the house is better to build from the same material as the house. For brick and concrete - from brick and concrete, for log or frame - from wood or chipboard. There are no strict rules in this regard, but there is experience and recommendations of professional builders.
Before you build a porch, you should decide on its size (height, area), type (open, closed), type (cold, insulated). Its functional features depend on the functional requirements that you make to it. Two steps, a small platform and a visor - the porch of the house can be so unpretentious. And it can be a roomy room connected to the terrace.
Not a single porch is complete without steps. Their number depends on how high the foundation of the house is. The porch of an ordinary wooden or frame house on a flat area, as a rule, has one to three steps. The porch of a house with a high base, by definition, will have from five to ten steps. If the building is built on a plot with a slope, then sometimes a staircase is made in two spans.
Reflecting on the question of how to make a porch for your home, you should understand that during its construction you need the same skills as when building a house. The porch consists of the same parts as the house: foundation, beams, logs, flooring, rafters for the roof or brackets for the eaves, roofing, stairs. The walls of the closed porch are sometimes provided with small windows.
Like any building project, the porch of the house begins with the foundation. Most often it is made pile from wood, brick or concrete. In the northern regions, the role of piles is sometimes performed by huge stones - boulders. This choice is determined by several significant advantages of the pile foundation: relatively low cost, availability of materials, lack of need for special construction equipment, the ability to build piles on their own, even alone. The number of piles depends on the area of the porch and its type. Under the light roof on the posts, a powerful foundation is not needed at all, but the closed insulated porch requires a more serious attitude.
According to the old method, the ends of powerful logs or beams intended for piles are processed with resin, tar, and now there are special tools for this. The log should be covered with a protective compound to a height of not less than 90 centimeters, so that the protected part rises above the ground by 15-20 centimeters.
Pits for piles should be at least 60 centimeters deep, the gap between them is 2 meters. Thus, under the average porch with an area of 2x4 m, 6 piles are required.
Large rubble is poured at the bottom of the pits (you can use broken brick), then gravel, sand. Such a “pillow” should be approximately 25 cm thick. A beam or log is placed on it, it is covered with earth, and it is compacted very tightly. Wooden piles can be poured with cement.
Pits for concrete or brick piles are prepared in a similar way, piles are constructed using formwork using concrete pouring technology.
The higher the porch is planned, the higher the piles should be. A low porch can be made on a flat concrete foundation. Formwork is made along the perimeter of the future porch (7-10 cm high), concrete is poured. A brick is laid on top (in one row). We lay roofing material for waterproofing on a brick. Then you need to calculate so that the brickwork, logs, floor boards in height in the final version are on the same level with the floor of the house.
What will be the porch of the house depends on the foundation - in the literal and figurative sense. The installation of the roof, stairs, walls and railings is carried out according to generally accepted technologies.