The porch on the south side of our home has been in need of serious repairs since long before we moved in. After having Pat Drury of Drury Designs take a look, he confirmed what we'd been fearing all along: we'd have to do a complete demo and rebuild.
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| The old porch after demo had begun. The sagging gutter and the beadboard underneath has been removed. |
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| The square pillars will be replaced with round ones, to match the front porch. The square ones will be reused in a unique way... |
We weren't that brokenhearted about it, simply because it was in bad enough shape that it likely would have cost more money to repair it than it would have to start over. Furthermore, the porch wasn't original to the house, so we saw this as an opportunity to match our newly completed front porch.
We attempted to get historic preservation tax credits through the Wisconsin Historical Society for the repairs to this porch -- and the other large projects this year, however, they did not approve our application. Since the porch was added to the house during the "historical period of significance" the WHS mandated that it must be restored to the style it was when we purchased the house, instead of the historically accurate design that Pat drew up for us. It is a shame that the state is so rigid in their views because this new porch will fit the design of the house better and not look like it was added as an afterthought.
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| Removing the old metal roof. |
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| The porch is gone! |
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| This area is going to be seeing a lot of activity in the next few weeks... |
We will keep you updated on the reconstruction as it happens!