Building a New Front Porch and Repairing Our Walkway

Building a new front porch and repairing our walkway made the front of our little pine cottage look so inviting.

Our front porch was in bad shape. It was peeling and just looked terrible even though we had recently primed and painted it. Since the wood was so old, the paint was not sticking to it very well. We also have a south facing house and the sun is blazing here in Texas so our front porch has gotten quite the beating from it.

REMOVING THE OLD FRONT PORCH

It was time to start fresh and build a new front porch. Nate started off the project by simply removing the old wood on the porch. Demo time! I was a bit worried about what we’d find underneath the porch as we did have a rabbit or two living under there in the past.

We didn’t see any bunnies when he pulled up the first few planks of wood. But, there was a huge slab of concrete underneath. Our next door neighbor has a concrete front porch and we’re guessing that’s what our porch used to be as well before someone built a wooden porch over it. We’re glad they did that because a wooden porch just looks so much better and feels more cozy. Especially for a little cottage.

old wooden front porch with concrete underneath

BUILDING A NEW FRONT PORCH

Nate began the build of a new front porch after he removed the old one. He started to build the new one over the concrete porch like it was before. This time it would have fresh new wood with a more historical design.

He was cutting and measuring wood as he went. As always, just figuring it out as he was building it. He also built a frame below the front porch to create a level surface for the stair stringers to rest on. This was also meant to keep any water from puddling underneath the porch.

Then he poured concrete mix in the frame to actually create the level surface. It was easy to use as you just add water and mix it up. He went through several bags of it. The challenge with a project like this is underestimating the amount of concrete mix you actually need. It seems you always need more than you think.

When the frame was completely filled with concrete, he used a flat piece of wood to smooth it out before it dried. He also pounded the concrete with another larger piece of wood to remove any air pockets while he was smoothing it out. Finally he removed the wooden frame he built as the new concrete frame was dry and complete.

man leveling out concrete frame for stair stringers

He built a wooden frame for the actual porch and stairs and also put up posts next to the stair frame to install a simple railing. Then he added the wood planks for the stairs going horizontal and on the porch going vertical.

CUSTOM BUILT PORCH

Now this was a complete diy custom built project. He used 5/4 inches x 6 inches x 12 feet standard ground contact pressure treated lumber from Home Depot. Originally the edges are rounded, but he wanted them square so he cut both side of the wood to 4 inches. He essentially used 5/4 inches x 4 inches instead of the original 5/4 inches x 6 inches to build the porch.

One tip that worked out really well is that he installed all of the vertical porch planks first and then came through with a circular saw to cut them all at once at the same length. That was a much better process than measuring out each plank individually and then installing them one by one. This way just seemed to give it a more accurate and straight finish.

man cutting wood for new custom porch build

The last step was building the posts and railings to walk up and down the porch steps. It turned out so nice and looked much better than our old porch of course. The way that Nate custom built the porch mimicked the way that old porches are also designed – wood planks going vertical on the porch and horizontal on the stairs. It was perfect for our cozy cottage.

REPAIRING THE FRONT WALKWAY

In the midst of the new porch build, Nate also decided to level out the front walkway and repair old cracks in it. He did this by mixing more of that concrete to add another fresh layer over it.

He designed it so that any water on the walkway would pull away from the house by building it higher toward the front porch and slanting it downward toward the street. That way rain water would not go under the porch like it used to.

It was not a perfect job, but rather more of a simply diy quick fix to keep water from going toward our house anymore.

Materials & Tools We Used

Garden Pick Axe: This tool was used to pull up the wood planks from the old porch. It can also be used for many other projects.
Circular Saw: This tool was used to cut the wood for the porch, stairs, and railings.
Garden Hoe: This was used to mix the concrete mixture and level it out for the stair foundation and repairs to the walkway.
Cordless Drill: This tool was used for many things during these projects to screw in nails efficiently.
Hammer: This was used to remove wood moldings that held in the concrete mixture in place after it was all dry.
Shovel: This was used to scoop and place the concrete mixture for our walkway repairs.

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new custom porch build and man pouring concrete on walkway

CHECK OUT OUR VIDEOS

Thanks for joining us on this journey! We hope that you will find inspiration watching us learn as we go while we’re attempting to renovate and rebuild this old small historic cottage mostly on our own~ while working full time jobs! Stay tuned for more progress updates ahead. Read more about us here.

You can also watch a video about this here.