Please show a photo of the front of the house.

What's behind the plywood?

What is your budget if staying? If selling?

Photo of front of house, and side of porch without railings/skirting added to original post. As you can see underneath the porch are old concrete stairs.

Budget is around $2-3k to fix the porch to make it look presentable.

Thanks

Try uploading photo again.

I think you need to do more than just make it look presentable. It appears that you should replace the steps (and probably the entrance deck, too). The risers of the steps do not look like they meet code in which there must be little or no variance in the height of all the steps (check your local building code for the allowable height variance in steps). The stairs also do not appear to be level. You might as well fix this once and for all, for safety reasons and also for future sale. I don’t know how expensive such a project would be in your area, but it would be worth spending the money on it and saving money on other exterior projects (maybe do other, less complicated projects, yourself to save money).

front of house, side of porch pics added to original post.

The porch/deck/steps are actually straight/leveled. There is a piece of thin wood/nosing at the bottom of the steps that makes it look like it's tilting to the right, but that's not the case.

I see now, thanks for photos. Yes, the current wood porch is a tear down and do over. It should be substantial and workman-like as a professional job with permits. If you are getting a new roof, this is a good time to change the porch roof, too.

@nester44 Thanks so much for this detailed writeup. I think this is what I'll need to hold me over before doing anything more elaborate, like a full demo down the line. I read all your notes in detail. Do you mind if I follow up with you directly with a few questions?

Please post an update when you are ready.

Doesn't look like i can directly message @nester44, but i had a few follow up questions to that post.

Pic 1 - regarding the side of the deck. There is nothing to screw balusters into. Should I put a piece of 2x4 in between the posts, and screw into that? Will ensure the 2x4 is properly screwed into the posts.

Pic 2 - regarding the stairs... to remedy the current plywood on side of stairs situation, maybe I can add a lower rail, which the balusters will screw into... and put siding material to cover up the side of the stairs.

Thoughts? .. or is this still a complete demolish job? Thanks all for the help. Just need something to hold me over for a couple yrs from this eyesore until I do a full porch demo and possibly concrete repair job which would be in the $10-15k range.

Thanks again!

PIC 1

PIC 2

Hi Sheer Tobias,

Your first Pic 1 looks like it would work. I would be inclined to try to get the siding closer to the base of the balusters so that the framing pieces and the 2x4 that you add don't show. On the top, you can top-screw the balusters through the rail, countersink the screws, and plug them with wood plugs. For Pic 2 -- that looks good too.

Another thought I had about the final part - stripping and restaining -- you'll need to see what kind of treatment is best for your siding -- can it withstand a stripping and pressure-washing, or will a light sanding followed by priming and painting be better? It all depends on the composition of your siding and its current condition. The stripping can be harsh (but it sure does the job!). Good luck. Let us see your progress!

A bit of an update and progress - so we changed out the skirting completely, stairs, wrapped the posts in cedar, and did some work on the porch pergola structure as well. Next steps - i plan to stain the porch, and paint the entire house. Also plan to replace roof. Now - the big question is, what color? Any suggestions?

More specifically, color combo for:

-siding

-fascia

-porch (what stain to go with - darker or lighter? I will be going with semi-transparent)

We're thinking of a more modern, lighter color combination. Family doesn't like darker colors (although I do).

Thanks in advance!

That definitely looks better. Does it feel more solid now when you use the steps and deck? PPG makes some excellent wood stains and they are available nationally, though you may have to search a little. Their stains are mixed to order in a variety of colors. There are lots of visualization tools available on paint websites that you can use to visualize what your house will look like when painted different colors. Maybe you should decide on the house color before doing anything with the porch and steps? Unfortunately, winter weather is coming and the unprotected wood needs to be protected (stained) before the rains, etc., so you'll have to make some decisions fairly quickly and get the bare wood stained ASAP. Good job! Keep us posted.

Gray or White body with a "mahogany" porch and maybe a black fascia?

@nester44

- the porch was always solid, so doesn't feel "more" solid.. I mainly didn't like the skirting and pergola structure before. I do like it much better now, thanks for all your ideas! I think it's the best we could've done without ripping the entire porch apart =) I'll take your advice again and check out some websites on color.. i do plan on a semi-transparent stain for porch asap. Fascia and siding paint will probably come next spring as we are getting pretty late in the year.