Front Porch Redo

[miakoeda]

Hello, first time posting....we moved into our 1953 ranch a year ago and want to tackle the front porch...the porch posts are too skinny and we'd like to have square posts with a railing around the porch...researched the idea of enlarging with square posts over the existing posts but the existing posts are a good two feet into the porch than where they should be, especially if adding a railing...I believe the posts are there because the 'header beam' (new weekend warrior, this may be the wrong term) is there...so now my questions! can we add additional wood to the header beam and then build square posts attached to that, removing the skinny posts? or is it better to add square posts over the existing skinny posts and just lose two feet of porch space? I've attached a picture showing the porch with skinny posts..any suggestions would be most appreciated..thanks so much! Mia

[springtime]

Hello miakoeda,
I am also new in this forum and there are persons here that can give you very good anwers, please, wait on their answers.

I have a question: Do you actually want to extend the roof? if you do that, the extension will be a little bit lower.
In my opinion, if you want an easy option, I would make the columns thicker (square), make the shape of the railing an "U" shape so you do not loose space. If you think this looks a bit odd, then you can always built a pergola attached to the existing beam, so you do not loose light.
I do not know the rest of the house so is hard to say how it will look.

It would be good to find out if the roof is being supported by the wall or by he beam (someone can check in the attic if there are ties attaching the trusses to the bearing wall). If it is a bearing wall, I think you could attach the new roof extension to the existing beam but you also have to provide a new beam to support the roof addition. In this case, it is possible that you can not remove the existing columns. Maybe you can built twin columns at each end.
My only concern is that the roof addition will be too low. I do not like that (only my personal taste)
Can we see the rest of the house?
Have a nice day

[phansford]

I am assuming you have trusses and not joists and rafters.

If you do have trusses, there is a good chance the trusses actually cantilever from the exterior wall of the house and the columns are for show. This was a common method used by builders in the 60's to create a covered porch area. Trusses can cantilever as much 60 inches depending on their total span and the applied load (snow).

We would need to know a lot more information to firmly determine this, but the spacing of the columns and the shallow depth of the "header" can make you wonder what really is happening here.

You could start by peeling off the wrap from the header and seeing what is really there. You might contract with an local architect on an hourly rate to provide some quick structural analysis of the roof and porch. Four hours of consulation might cost you $400 or even less. You could probably get a sketch design also in that time.

Also - if the columns were actually structural, there would be a foundation under them or a pier footing at each post. Grab a shovel and dig a little at the end of the porch - you will only need to dig about 6 inches down to find the foundation - if one exists.

So...... if you wanted to add some new (and properly proporationed) columns - you probably can. If you don't want to contact a local professional to get real answers, just build around the existing columns and add new ones in bewteen.

Hope that helps.