Bedevilled by bushes

A dilapidated front porch in need of a facelift nearly led to adventures in bushwhacking when I had to work my way through foliage that had overgrown in recent years.

Although the homeowner prepared the porch by removing the old and weathered top-decking prior to my arrival, the bushes next to the porch proved to be a considerable challenge during this exterior upgrade.

During my first visit, and while the old porch was still intact, it was obvious the top decking boards were rotting and had begun to fail in certain areas. Upon a review of the porch’s undercarriage, it was determined the main beam and joists could be salvaged, having not been subjected to the same amount of weathering as the exposed lumber. The existing railing, which consisted of old-school spindles, would be replaced by an exterior railing that better suits the upgraded look of the porch once the new deck boards were installed.

As a first step, the porch was levelled by introducing adjustable deck jacks at all three post locations. Both old staircase accesses were removed and rebuilt by creating new stringers with 2×12 treated lumber that allows a deeper tread. With the structure once again fully framed, 2×6 top-decking was installed parallel with the front face of the house and along every stair tread. These tasks were relatively easy, unlike the next few, which involved negotiating the thicket of bushes along the majority of the porch’s perimeter.

To install the new railing, 4×4 posts were pre-cut to height, notched along the bottom edge for side-mounting along the visible edges of the porch and at the staircases. To achieve this, the bushes were tied off temporarily where required. Once 2x 8 fascia was installed between the railing posts, the upper and lower 2×4 horizontal supports were mounted below the 2×6 cap, upon which 2×2 balusters were secured, completing the railing system.

Although the underside of the porch was to initially remain open, the homeowner decided it might be best to close it in provided there was a small access door somewhere. A second scheduling was established to satisfy this request.

A nominal framework is required for a deck skirt. As such, an upper and lower array of horizontal boards ripped from remnant 2x8s was created, with vertical supports at every four feet. A rough opening for the small access door was also framed, on the far end of the porch along the protrusion of the stairs. Once this framing was completed, 1×6 fence boards were cut to meet the ground elevation and fastened to the upper and lower supports. Although tying off the bushes was sufficient when the railings were being mounted, a considerable amount of foliage was pruned as I went in order to create the space required by the vertical fence boards in the skirt of the deck. The trickiest areas were along the stairs at the close end of the porch — the bushes literally boxed in the staircase, which made it precarious to install the skirt fence boards.

After battling for an hour or two to remove enough of the bushes’ branches, the skirting began to take shape. Along the front, the proximity of the foliage was less obtrusive, allowing for a more rapid installation process. By the time I reached the far end of the porch where the access door was to be located, the 1×6 boards were being placed at a hasty pace.

Proper access to a build location is crucial. Not only does it ensure greater precision during the installation, it also allows the process to unfold along the anticipated timeline. Battling with overgrown bushes caused unwanted scrapes and scratches and made the entire facelift process take longer than expected.

At any rate, the porch upgrade turned out to be exactly what the homeowner had hoped for. The thing is, passersby will just have to take his word for it — until that foliage is properly pruned, the porch will continue to hide behind the bushes.

RenoBoss.Inc@outlook.com