Architectural Design, Remodeling and Construction Supervision: A Porch Addition

My wife, Bartley Johnstone, and I collaborate both in life and in work. Trained at Parsons as a fashion designer, Bartley is also a talented and successful interior designer. Her fashion store in Kent, CT is called B. Johnstone & Co. I have designed, built, remodeled and supervised many residential and commercial projects. My company is called John Scofield Designs, LLC. Here are 'before' and 'after' views of a remodeled porch addition that we created together for a house in Connecticut:

The 'before' condition of the porch is shown above. It is a small room with a small porch that was added on later. They have two different roofs that do not meet. There are no screens. The foundation is bare concrete. The door on the far right was a sealed-off 'door to nowhere' from the living room.

The completed porch is much enlarged as shown in the 'after' photo above. It wraps around the formal entry room and is fully screened. New double French doors on both sides allow people to move in and out easily during parties. The new standing-seam copper roof is unified and tight. New stone foundation piers match the original stone on the house.

It was Bartley's idea to add the new 'eyebrow' window over the screen door.

Here's how it looks from the inside. The new eyebrow window and barrel-vaulted ceiling brighten the space and make the chandelier sparkle! They also add a more formal quality to a previously moribund room. The entry door and French doors are new. To keep expenses down, we rehabbed the two original flanking windows. Bartley found the chandelier in pieces up in the attic. She had it cleaned and rewired. Note the perimeter down-lighting and speakers.

This framing detail shows you how the barrel-vaulted ceiling was made. The workman is cutting the sprayed-in foam, high-R insulation to conform to the curve. Next, thin panels of sheet-rock will be lightly sprayed with water and fastened to the wood strips. That lamination process creates a distortion-free curved surface. Traditional plastering would have been much more expensive but not necessarily of better quality.


Here are more views of the completed addition:

 

7 Sept. 2013 post script:

Designer Melissa Brunet, in Paris, just requested the following: "I love love love to read about how people solve design problems. And I know I'm not alone on this so please continue!" 

OK Melissa, here goes: The design for the addition was tricky because the new roof peak could not go higher than a 2nd floor window sill. Squeezing the vaulted ceiling, framing widths, plate height etc. into the available space - leaving room for roof pitch - took a little Texas chainsaw massacre work...! The authentic Greek columns are fibreglass from Brosco. Cutting each one burns through a new skil saw blade per column. It's still worth it. They don't rot. The square columns are rot resistant wood that we fabricated on site. The mahogany deck has a decent pitch; sheds water. Had to 'ice and water shield' the new roof to the house wall to prevent future leaks. That sprayed-in foam solved another problem. Code makes you vent the entire roof; soffit and ridge - unless you fill all under-roof voids with approved foam! Done. Would you like my dissertation on nails too...?