Name: Two Story Porch with Copper Roof

Location: Milwaukee – Lower East Side

Problem: The Home’s Front and side porch were no longer structurally integral and needed to be completely rebuilt.

Solution Provided: First we assessed if there were any parts of the original porch to salvage, including brackets, balusters and decorative moldings. Anything deemed salvageable was brought back to our shop in Shorewood for restoration. The rest of the porch was completely demolished and disposed of, and the team began to pour new footings for the porch. We framed the porch using pressure treated lumber to the original dimensions keeping it historically accurate to the home. Next we installed tongue and groove skirt boards similar to the home’s existing boards including decorative ventilation holes. The stairs were also framed using pressure treated lumber, and we installed Ipe treads and clear cedar risers. For the porch flooring we used tongue and groove fir flooring which we primed before installation.

The front porch is a 2 story porch, so we reframed the upper porch using a Spruce-Pine-Fir and matching the current dimensions of the built in roof and gutters with a sheath roof made of CDX plywood. We recreated the soffits, fascia, fascia crown, and trim moldings of clear grain vertical cedar. For the ceiling we used pine beat board, and following the porch’s original design we installed any new or salvaged part of the second story. The roof was made from custom bent 16 oz copper, with a standing seam roof on the pitched parts and a flat seam roof on the upper flat space.

In our shop we needed to build new posts similar to the existing ones. We also built a new rail, suitable for the existing balusters and designed with a sloped bottom rail. We were able to restore some of the original balusters, but for the rest we recreated the design and built it out of cedar. The balusters were then milled for the stair rails and installed to the existing newel posts. Prior to installation everything was primed and painted with any touch ups done once installed, and applied 3 coats of industrial floor enamel on the porch flooring.