That porch doesn't look that bad to me. Save it please.

Are there regulations governing what you can do to a historic building? I agree that the porch is integral to the character of the home.

Typically there are. This house is not registered as a historic building for some reason though. the porch may appear fine it is however rotting and had to come down. It is not original to the house either but we could rebuild it to look the exact same.

Is this a flip for you?

Full width porch, keeping the shape of the one taken down, standing seam metal roofing for porch and house, clean up brick, obvi, poppy accent color on the window insets, landscaping and a walkway with adorable mailbox

yes we plan on metal roofing! Love the idea of full width porch and pop-y windows. Hadn't thought beyond white or black on those yet. The mailbox is located across the street where it has to stay but could definitely use some love. the walkway will have to be small as the front area there will actually have a little limestone drive up spot to park the car for visitors. Maybe brick on the pathway. Yes the exterior will be cleaned up and repainted fresh white. We can't sandblast it completely since the brick is so old, it would deteriorate it.

Is there room to wrap the porch around one side to blend the addition?

Oh man!! I love that idea! The space is there, it would just be a matter of building permits. Most of the normal codes can be bypassed since this is such an old home. Definitely worth looking in to! Thanks!

OP says: ...The space is there, it would just be a matter of building permits. Most of the normal codes can be bypassed since this is such an old home. Definitely worth looking in to! Thanks!

^Are you sure that you don't have to pull permits for work to your home?

I know that in my area there is more than one reason to pull building permits. For example: if you change out the plumbing, electrical, roof and HVAC system because they are older than 30 years (required here by insurance co's) then you must pull a permit for each of the preceding items. If you don't, the insurance co won't "count" it as done and not cover the property even if they allow you to make premium payments they won't cover a claim. And if the work isn't done, it fails the 4-point inspection. If you own it F&C and are self-insured, it wouldn't matter, but otherwise it does.

Also, the city/county can and will send you a notice to cure. Either pull the permits or tear out the improvements or face daily fines of up to $1000/day.

BTW, that wrap around porch is beautiful! I hope you can incorporate it into your rehab.

aviastar, I like your concepts. but I would do a straight, wide walkway, and enclose the yard with a hedge rather than line the walk. And put the mailbox near the walk....

Correct, I didn’t mean we don’t have to have permits, we most certainly do. That would potentially be the issue in trying to build the porch around the side since according to building codes in our county, it’s too close to the road. Redoing the front porch is allowed simply because we will be reusing as much of the structure as we can so it remains as an “existing structure.”

Do you have the budget to replace the windows with ones that fit the original openings?

Possibly Fori. That will depend a lot on how other aspects of the project play out. We are still waiting to hear from the health department on where we can place the new septic and what kind is required for the lot. That alone has a huge impact on what’s left in the budget.