Porchry: A the process of converting my side porch into a pantry.
Introduction
I have often read peoples accounts of projects they have taken on and blogged about along the way. I’m about to pursue an endeavour I have zero experience in and thought it would be fun to blog about it.
If you look at these pdfs ( pantry_house_1-4 & pantry_1-2 ) you’ll see the plan I submitted to the Town of Apex in application for the building permit that give a basic layout of my first floor of my house the construction of the frame for the walls. Creating the pantry will open up our kitchen space so that we can remodel it and gain lots of counter top and cabinet space, which we severely lack right now.
Pemission
First step, which I almost forgot to do, was to get permission from the Town and the HOA. A huge applause for my HOA! I submitted my request last Tuesday to the management company, was visited by the president of the HOA Wednesday for a 5 min review, left for vacation to the beach thursay and had an approval letter in the mail when I returned Saturday evening. A second applause for the Town of Apex. I submitted my building permit application Thursday before I left for vacation and despite their being short a set of hands in the office they still beat their usual five day turn around. I was called Monday morning with an inviation to pick up (and pay for) my approval. $75 bucks for the building permit and $40 bucks for the electrical. I have no idea if that’s reasonable or not. On the other hand, what choice do I have?
My plans estimated a $600 build cost. We’ll see how that goes. I plan to keep track of the cost of materials and leave out the cost of tools that I add to my collection along the way Though, I think I’ll be able to borrow tools I need.
Investigation
My plans called for ten foot walls and replacing the column on the porch with a set of double treated 2x4s. This was a rough guess that I don’t think is too far off from what I needed. I’d torn out pieces of the siding and moulding on the porch to form a plan of attack and decided yesterday to go get my first round of materials:
- 4 treated 2′x4′x10′s
- 2 treated 2′x4′x8′s
- 16 2′x4′x105″ studs
- 4 2′x4′x96″ studs
- Box of galvanized nails
- Box of Decking Screws
- 5 Red Head masonry anchor bolts
Already up to $140, I had estimated $55 for framing materials. Oops!
Fun story here. On my plans I did not specify how I would attach the frame to the existing porch foundation. The town wrote in that they expected me to use !/2″ anchor bolts 6′ on center no more then 12″ from the corners. I wanted to be sure I bought the correct bolts so I asked someone at Lowes what would fit this requirement. The employee told me that anchor bolts are set in concrete when it’s poured and that I would probably have to re-pour a new foundation. I was confused with this so I started to call the town to ask what I was missing. Before I could complete dialling the number a guys approached me, apologized for eaves dropping my conversation and offered his assistance, worked in construction, as he thought he had overhead me getting misinformation. He proceeded to kindly lead me to the proper anchor bolts and walk me through a very detailed instruction on how to use them. I had a few more questions but was interrupted by my 2 yr old asking me to take him to the potty, who later told me that he wanted his mommy and “Lowes is not fun”. I hoped he just meant that particular visit since he usually has fun there riding the lawn mowers. So we went and got the lumber and I let him ride on the flat bed cart. Hopefully this was a decent recovery.
So here’s a picture of the porch post investigation:
The column is a hollow pvc like construction. I’m not sure if it’s weight or load bearing so I’m going to treat it like it is. You can’t see it in this pic, but the foundation is painted brick like next to the wood steps in this pic with a layer at the top of unpainted brick and filled in with concrete. Standard porch? as far as I know. At this point I’m working to tear out enough of the molding and siding to take exact measurements for the frame and start to build it. Once I have the measurements I need to cut and construct each wall frame and put them into place. Once in place I’ll drill through the wood into the brick/concrete to attach the frame to the foundation. Then I’ll use the deck screws to attach the frame to the existing walls.
More to come.
