Aaron has been a busy beaver during the past week....now that his cast is off, he's been itching to get something accomplished, I guess. So, he decided to tackle the front entrance of the house. As much as I want the basement DONE, I didn't mind the diversion because, well, as gross as it is, Suki DOES think we built her a giant litter box, and has been "using" the entire basement. Ew. It doesn't smell THAT bad, but definitely bad enough to be noticeable from the back entrance. And THAT is why I was more than happy to have an access to the front door built.
We had wanted to build a veranda all along the front of the house, but when Aaron went to get the permit, he found out that bylaws have recently changed. We basically were now only allowed to build steps up to the front door, due to the fact that our house is already quite close to the street. I was disappointed, but what can ya do?
Well, I'll tell you what we did..ha. Aaron asked "So, how big do you want the front step?" My answer was, "As big as it can be without being a deck." Since we really didn't know what that was, technically, we just went for it....And I'm REALLY happy with the result. The platform is the same square footage as the old platform AND staircase used to be, ending up about 6'x7'. Now we just hope and pray the bylaw officer doesn't come by and tell us we have to take it down or make it smaller...
Aaron did an AMAZING job putting it together. He had no plans, just did it from his head! He called a friend for help with the stringers for the stairs, but other than that, it was all him. Now we have a cozy little place to sit in the sun in the mornings, drink coffee, whatever...The rails are nice and high, and make it quite private, at least as much as can be expected for a front porch! Here's the before and after...
Before
After the demolition
The new "steck"
Obviously, we'll have some landscaping work to do in the spring. Having an entire basement floor's worth of concrete piled on it does not seem to have done our lawn any favours...and then there's the sinkage from the sprinkler hose being left on way back in July. SO, there will be more "after" pics to come...but for now, I have a steck!
4 comments:
First of all......I would have NEVER gone in for a permit for a simple deck/steps...:) Just build it!! You weren't pouring any permanent footings, right? You could have done a nice longer 'steck' from the door to the driveway and have your steps down from there. Tear out the concrete walk up from the sidewalk, put grass in...no one would have ever known. BUT..I really do like what you've done..it looks very nice...a definite improvement from what was there before....YEAH.
Yah, except we have a new "eager beaver" bylaw officer in town...several people we know have already been instructed to fix home "improvement" projects on the outside of their houses...most of which were completed without permits....I kinda like the sidewalk up the front...but having one off the side to the driveway would have been nice, too...
Aaron is quite the handyman! Congrats. Now for a couple hound dogs to lay under the steck.
Wow ... Aaron did a hell of an amazing job for just winging it. I'm really in awe of what he made.
Good to have your blog back!
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