The Whole Porch and Former Outhouse Gotta Go

$1000 is what two contractors wanted to demo what remained of the porch off the front of the house. I felt I had done the hard part already, the front and side rails. I decided to save that money and tear down the ceiling myself. One of the contractors offered advice, go purchase some sheets of plywood, cover the windows, and take a sledge hammer to the two post and let gravity have its way. Such a manly way of handling things. I took two weekday evenings and a more systematic approach. I had a gaping hole on the front of the house that needed sheathing and I knew I’d have another hole on the rear of the house to close up once the bump out on the back was taken off, so I looked at the porch as building material, IF, the rot didn’t go much further. The decking for the roof ceiling was the same material as the house sheathing, old pine 8″ tongue and groove. If I could keep the pieces long enough I could use them to patch.

When I’m working alone on a project that could cause injuries taking photos is low on my priority list, so again my apologies you can’t see the true progression. The guys that bailed out my demo day were able to get all the bead board ceiling boards out. I could have saved some of the boards for a woodworking project, but they were so filled with paint that I pitched all of it in the dumpster. It left me with just true 2×4 rafter studs, the tongue and groove sheathing, and the metal roof. The metal roof was attach to a ledger board that had clear signs of rot across about a third its length. I installed a temporary 2×4 post in the center and selected a spot on the house where I thought I’d hit sound wood.

Using my reciprocating saw I cut through all the layers starting at the house and working my way through the box gutter. I then freed each 2×4 rafter in that area, which freed the sheathing. Any nails that held the metal roof to the sheathing had rusted and weakened rendering them useless. It really didn’t take much effort. With all the wood and weight gone I hit the left post with a sledge hammer and the metal roof folded down. I used a a crow bar to free it from the house. The next evening I returned and followed the same steps on the remaining section. $1,000 saved, no injuries. It was clear to me that from the porch ledger board down I would need to take the house down to the sheathing and I was contemplating doing the entire front. It was starting to feel like a Good Bones TV show house.

Before I could start tearing off the back I needed to close the hole in the foundation that was made, I’m guessing, when the house was plumbed for indoor plumbing. What was once an outhouse became a plumbed toilet. That was a fine idea for the early 1900s, but why someone would think it was fine to keep it and add a shower pan and vanity to make it a 3pc bathroom in 2010 is beyond comprehension. I knew I was going to need new sidewalks and a porch top (with the center post removed all the weight transferred to the outer post causing the porch to crack on each end), so I called a friend who a few years earlier had her driveway and porch done. I am not going to mention the company by name as ultimately I did not use him and I would not recommend him, but he came through in closing up the hole. Actually he even helped me out by hauling away another load of bagged debris.

Criminal is the word I’ll use for the decision to leave what was once an outhouse as one part of a three piece bathroom that sacrificed half of a kitchen. I so wish I had taken pictures, but I was focused on tearing it out in a timely manner as I needed to make sure I had time to close the hole.  I found one that I took to capture original wallpaper, but the wood you see in the background was the toilet room.  The wood structure wasn’t crafted to any modern code and yet newer insulation had been stuffed in the gaps. It was a hot mess that was fortified because the poorly constructed frame had been covered in asphalt siding, a thin layer of foam insulation and then vinyl siding attached by what seemed like 1000s nails. I thought it funny that the owners who installed the asphalt siding wanted a toilet with a view (see glow on left), but the owners who installed the vinyl siding covered, but did not insulate or close the opening on the inside. Can you imagine how cold it must have been using that toilet in the winter. At any rate, it took me the better part of a Saturday to rip the structure off. My footing was precarious as I was working over an open pit that was once a latrine.

I used the true 2x4s I salvaged from the front porch to stud out the opening. I used the porch roof sheathing to close the hole. Two layers of the sheathing brought the opening even with the original wood siding of the house, which was in pristine condition. That would have made a nice feature wall in the toilet room, but not nice enough to keep it. Another layer of sheathing will be needed to make that section even with asphalt siding. The vinyl will be replaced as underneath it are two windows that had been covered. WHY??????? Based on bids I had gotten I’ll claimed that I saved myself about $6,000 doing this work myself.