Building a Screened-In Porch at the Cottage

Markus assigned us the job (with a lot of help and suggestions from him) of building the screened-in porch on the east side of the Cottage.  The first thing we did was to clean off the surface of everything stored there and wash it to get rid of several years of dirt.  Then Markus and Bob built the edge from Azek (a form of plastic used to surround the windows) and a 2x4.  The porch slopes so that the rain drains off so it was a tricky bit of construction to create a perfectly flat surface.  In addition, we decided to build scuppers to let the water drain out.  Once that was completed, we took it out and began to install the rubber deck coating that will waterproof the deck and keep water from the
basement.  This was a miserable 2-day job as we had to manipulate 10x20' pieces of rubber, put rubber cement on the floor and the rubber, roll it out without creating bubbles (an impossibility) and get covered in cement and the dust used to keep the rubber from sticking to itself.  Once we completed that, we placed pieces of concrete backer board on top to protect the rubber from being punctured by things being dropped on it.  Here you see Markus applying rubber cement and the finished installation.




This photo shows the edging in place onto which we will install the 15 screen doors that Markus bought seven years ago.  They were an easy way to get a glass and screen porch in place.  All we had to do was to put in the posts, make sure everything was vertical, attach lap boards between the doors that didn't attach to posts and nail strips at the top and bottom to keep everything in place.  This involved cutting cedar 4x4s into 1" lap boards and the lap boards into three 3/4" bottom and top pieces and rout out a corner round.  In addition, each post needed to have dados (slots) cut into it for the doors to slip into.  Needless to say, since nothing in the Cottage is square, there was a lot of adjustment, recutting, swearing, etc.  






Here is Bob checking to see if everything is lining up.  You can see a corner post and a door and the lap board.  Inserting the doors took four days.














                       

Here is the finished project from the outside.  We still need to fill in the space above the beam supporting the porch roof and the triangular section at the north (right) side of the porch to close it in.  We planed rescued 3/4" tongue-in-groove siding and are cutting and inserting it in two beams that have been dadoed out.







It is all very fussy.  Here Bob is taking a little bit off the side of a door due to the fact that the wall of the Cottage isn't plumb.











And here he is screwing in a lag bolt attaching the post.  Last year we put in pink insullation and precision was not required.  This year we have had a very technical project which involves a lot of precision.  At times it is very frustrating.  However, the result will be beautiful and there will be a bug-free area to eat and sit out after dinner with lights and a safe place for little ones to play.