Comfortable porch - how to make it yourself

The porch at the water door of the house is designed to move from the level of the local area to the level of the first floor. Its height is equal to the protruding part of the basement.

The decoration of the porch is also a conditional protection from adverse weather conditions (rain and snow) during the opening and closing of the entrance door lock.

Choose a design

They are wooden, metal, prefabricated (brick, blocks) and aspic (concrete). And before you make a porch to the house, you need to choose the design and material.

So:

• Wooden porches are notable for their simple construction, relative cheapness and short assembly time (see Wooden Porch). But they do not differ in longevity, and for about five years of operation, they will need an annual inspection, and then repair. An antiseptic treatment will somewhat delay repairs, but it will not remove the problem.

• If the house is built entirely of wood (see the Porch of a wooden house - decoration or necessity), then a wooden porch will be good to be in harmony with its appearance. But this is not a prerequisite. The jellied or modular porch lined with tiles can be decorated with wooden railings. The overall design of the whole house with this solution will also be at the height.
• Looks good open design with elements of a spiral staircase. But such an entourage casts the aura of romanticism of medieval castles, which is not quite suitable for the dwelling of a modern civilized person. Such officialdom in the design of an open structure is perfect for the design of the entrance doors for office and service purposes.

• The jellied concrete porch differs not only durability, but also freedom in a choice of a form. Any fantasy of an architect can be made in concrete, because the formwork for pouring is quite simple and the work on the construction of formwork is simple. Another advantage of the concrete option is the ability to lay the embedded parts in the process of concreting. Subsequently, it will be possible to attach, for example, columns, railings, or guides for a pram.

So, we choose for ourselves a concrete option, as the most durable, easy to manufacture and allowing you to vary your finances in case the family budget requires a temporary halt to work.

We will do the pouring of concrete, zabutovku stone facing tiles. Armature - mesh or rods. Consider all the technological operations, how to do it yourself, without resorting to the help of third-party specialists.

Project

At the first stage it is necessary to decide on the form and its functionality:

• veranda and a small gathering;
• small playground and carport;
• railings;
• ramp to roll the cart;
• or provide mortgages for removable guides under the pram.

Первый этап может быть с минимальной комплектацией. Остальное оформление можно запланировать на другой временной период. К вопросу how to make a porch следует подходить с всесторонней оценкой, чтобы впоследствии не переделывать его.

It should be repeated that this small architectural form should have some functionality. Therefore, embedded items can be installed, so to speak, “just in case,” good, it is quite inexpensive.

Count

At the second stage, it is necessary to determine the cost of work in order to provide for their gradual execution, which is possible even at such a small amount. Estimates can be saved in draft form in a notebook, but it is necessary to calculate all costs in advance.

We divide all the work on the queues. We summarize all costs in stages. This will help draw up a work plan.

Work plan

To clearly imagine how to make the porch yourself, it is necessary to paint all technological operations in your notebook in queues of execution.

The first stage - the device porch.

1. Drafting a draft (см. Project крыльца. Профессиональные советы).
2. Training - production and delivery of materials, installation of a concrete mixer or trough device for manual mixing of concrete.
3. Foundationное основание - soil dredging, dumping, reinforcement.
4. Formwork manufacturing.
5. Concrete batching, formwork pouring, installation of embedded parts for the subsequent fastening of handrails, columns, other elements.
6. Formwork removal after 24 hours, cleaning the area after civil works.
7. Many recommend waterproofing concreteespecially in its underground part. Not quite a prerequisite, because the natural destruction of the base in time will exceed the life of the house itself. But still perform waterproofing will be useful.

The works of the second stage - finishing, begin 48 hours after pouring concrete:

1. Acquisition and importation of tiles, tile glue.
2. Setting up a device or mechanism for cutting tiles.
3. Cutting and fitting decorative tiles on a concrete surface.
4. Check the horizontal level of the steps and align the surfaces "below the horizon".
5. Laying tiles on glue.
6. Seam interlayer tile.
7. Cleaning of the territory after finishing works.

The work of the third stage - installation. This accession to the porch railing, columns, or hinge on the wall visor:

1. Checking the dimensions between mortgages, cleaning the embedded parts from concrete flows.
2. Inspection fittings.
3. Installation.

The fourth and final stage in the construction of the porch - anti-corrosion coating of metal surfaces, antiseptic wood processing and the final decorative painting of the finished product.

1. Completion of materials.
2. Cleaning surfaces from rust, dirt, dust, old paint.
3. Application of primer with anti-corrosion properties.
4. It is necessary to apply antiseptic on wooden products before installation of parts in the general design.
5. Application of weatherproof enamel.

For completeness, it is worth mentioning more and electrical work - the installation of the lamp and the electric button.

Work

We will work for more than one day, and a temporary transitional structure will be required to enter and exit the house, for example, in the form of a ladder with one-sided railings or another structure. The transitional structure should completely overlap the pit under the foundation, and it should be manufactured first.

Foundation

When we define the project how to make a porch to the house, mark up the pit for the foundation. We will choose the foundation depending on the type of soil.

If the soil of high categories is close to a rock, then it is necessary to remove a layer of soft fertile soil, clean the rock from it, if it is shallow. If the rocky base turns out to be inclined, then it is necessary to anchor - to drill holes to a depth of 200–300 mm and drive reinforcing rods of 300–400 mm into them with an upward release of about 100 mm.

The diameter of the drill and rebar - 12–16 mm. To the protruding parts of the rods we subsequently tie the reinforcement for the foundation cushion. With soft soils, the depth of the pit can reach up to 1 meter.

Connecting the foundation of the porch with the foundation of the house is undesirable, except if they are being built simultaneously and have the same depth. If in 5–8 years the porch sinks into the ground by 2–3 mm, it will be imperceptible.

Separate manufacture of the foundation.

1. Mark up the dimensions.
2. Selecting the soil - make the pit (pit).
3. If the rock - we sweep the ground with a broom, if the soft soil - we lay a sand-gravel pillow of about 100 mm and tamp it down, helping with water.
4. We make the formwork according to the preliminary design.
5. If there is no other entrance to the house and it is required to enter and exit, then install a temporary ladder from above. You should go through it and check if there is any formwork offset. At detection of displacement the ladder is reinstalled.
6. Knead the concrete in the proportions of cement: sand: gravel as 1: 3: 3. The purchase of cement on the market is fraught with the purchase of a fake, and if ordinary Portland cement, after mixing with water and hardening, acquires a light or whitish tint, we add more such cement. And the proportions of concrete will be as follows: 1: 2: 2
7. We lay reinforcement on a layer of 50–100 mm of concrete: either a reinforcing mesh over all areas, or a reinforcing rod along and across the foundation in increments of 1 meter. If the pit is deep, it should be forgotten with a rubble stone interspersed with concrete. We derive the level of the foundation to the ground level.

To continue the work, it is enough to wait 24 hours before the concrete hardens. On the second day we install the formwork of the above-ground part according to the preliminary design.

Formwork and fittings

To install the formwork, we will pre-install vertical pillars, we will manufacture vertical shields, set them in size and “tie” them to transverse boards strictly to size. The grid on the steps themselves will be laid on top of the concrete. There are several options - how to make a porch. The next version of reinforcement is somewhat different from the previous one.

We connect armature rods in his body with a pitch of approximately 500 mm. The connection of the rods together is carried out by knitting steel wire with a diameter of 0.3-0.5 mm

During concreting and backfilling we check the size of the rubble stone. The maximum size across must not exceed the mesh size of the reinforcing structure. Large rubble stones reject.

Concreting

Despite the simplicity of the design to make a stable and durable formwork with little experience is not easy. Therefore, vibrating concrete is undesirable.

For high-quality filling volume we will make concrete a little liquid. Especially since it is not a responsible design. After removing the formwork, the probable bubbles and caverns can be painted over with a solution. It will be much worse if during the concreting and manual compacting of concrete the formwork will be heard to the sides.

Заливаем бетон, закладываем бутовый камень, снова бетон и так далее повторяем, пока не заполним всю опалубку. Весь процесс должен быть непрерывным — это обязательное условие для строителей с малым опытом. Чтобы представить, how to pour porch — большой опыт не требуется. Но ошибки допускать тоже не следует.

After pouring concrete, wait 24 hours and remove the formwork. Concrete will gain full design strength in two days, but after a day you can continue to work with it. We clean the formwork, pour out the edges of the pit, we tamp. For better precipitation of land we pour it with water.

Dressing

The tile on the entrance porch works in very difficult conditions. It gets wet and freezes, the base often collapses under the tiles (with poor-quality concreting or poor-quality reinforcement). Tiles often take point impact loads.

Это и есть та ситуация, где «спрятаны» трудности процесса. Но если в эскизном проекте учтём и проблемы укладки плитки, когда полностью поймём, how to make the porch, то качество лет на десять вперёд обеспечить вполне возможно.

We take a tile for a porch only cold-resistant brands (see. Tile for a porch). The texture is preferably of natural stone, so that the roughness of the tile was maximum.

Shaped forms

The angular forms of modern building structures are technological and more simple to manufacture than the shaped ones. But in individual construction, especially for oneself, it is possible and to dream, it is possible to introduce a certain entourage into small architectural forms of buildings or landscape. And now we will consider the features of the technology, how to make a semicircular porch to your house.

There are several features complicating the process of work.

• First, it is convenient to draw a semicircle of the step with a plastic material. Plastic sheet cut to the size of the sidewall of the first stage, drill holes and fasten ordinary furniture corners. With the help of the corners we fix plastic in a wooden formwork frame.
• The second feature is that when combining materials - wood plus plastic - it is difficult to ensure the strength of the formwork. And because the steps will fill alternately, one per day.
• The third feature complicating the process of concreting is the additional shelter of the process of concreting from dusting. After filling the first layer of concrete, we leave it overnight. Probable wind can cause a large layer of dust, and before pouring the second layer, it is necessary to do a purge-dedusting, which is almost impossible to do in conditions of private construction. For purging need a powerful compressor. And our task is to cover the porch with a strong film or fabric for a day in order to protect it from dust and other debris.

With the step-by-step pouring of concrete, the surface of the step itself is aligned with the horizon by the level. A layer of concrete inside the porch on the contrary should be left expressed uneven, bumpy. So we will provide the best grip with a new, surface layer.

Both on straight steps and semicircular ones one should not deviate from the norms of ergonomic constructions. For a person, the most optimal are the steps 17 cm high and 30 cm wide. Having well prepared for work and having completed it without deviating from the project, we will make for ourselves a comfortable and beautiful porch.

Detailed technology of tile laying and installation of railings and visors awaits us in the following articles.