Three Upgrades When Dealing With A Smashed In Porch

If you're porch was destroyed by a falling tree, then you're probably already getting ready to bring in contractors to deal with the damage restoration. However, before you just go ahead and have the contractors rebuild the same old porch, you might want to consider some ideas to upgrade the look and design of your old porch. Since the tree destroyed the old porch, you should take this as an opportunity to completely redesign the porch concept, and even do some light home remodeling to better integrate the porch into your home. Here's a few ideas.

Improve The House-to-Porch Transition With Sliding Glass

The main home remodeling idea you should consider is a new sliding glass door for the area where the porch meets your home. This design is especially great for rear porches. The new, sliding glass doors will create a great visual space for the interior of your home, allowing you to see the porch and your backyard through the large glass windows.

The large sliding doors are also great because you can leave them open during the spring and summer and get a nice breeze inside your home. When sliding doors are open, they are very discreet, unlike regular doors where the door is swung open into the space. The sliding doors can be left open and not be visually obtrusive. If you do plan on leaving the sliding doors open for extended periods of time, make sure the contractors install a small sliding screen door on the interior track so that you can close the screen to keep insects out.

Add Stone Column Wraps

A very nice visual touch is to wrap the support columns with stone. This gives the porch a very sturdy look. The way it works is that the contractors will use either natural stone such as riverstone or fieldstone, or else fabricated stone, and stack it around the base of the support columns. Many people like the faux wraps because they don't create the same heavy weight that a solid stone column would create.

Replace The Pressure Treated Wood With Cedar

Since the old deck was destroyed, and your going to replace it instead of patching it up, you might want to take the chance to use cedar wood. If your old porch was made of pressure treated wood, you might have grown tired of the look of the grey, industrial looking decking. So, speak with the contractor about using beautiful, cedar planks. This sort of wood is great for a porch deck and railing because it is very resistant to moisture. Also, you can stain it to help bring out the beautiful wood grain. It's a much more natural looking material for your deck and it will work well with the stone wraps.