Improving the "Cut-Under" Porch— By w. r. Dimton, Jr., ti 



A LITTLE VACATION WORK THAT IMPROVED THE HOME AND AL- 

 SO AFFORDED A GOOD WALL FOR CLINGING VINES TO GROW UPON 



MANY houses are built with 

 what I term a cut-under porch, 

 that is, the porch is really a 

 room in one corner of the house, 

 whose outer walls have been left out in the 

 construction, or rather, moved back to 

 take the place of the partition walls. 

 Forming as it does a part of the house it 

 has much greater importance structurally 

 than the ordinary or leanto porch. While 

 often considered more attractive than the 

 latter form, the cut-undervarietyhas certain 

 disadvantages. The chief one of these is that 

 its decay affects that entire corner, and to a 

 lesser extent, the whole house. For example, 

 the sill of the porch of our house decayed 

 and it was found that it had aUowed that 

 corner of the second floor to drop three 

 inches, causing doors to stick, plaster to 

 crack, etc. The house had been built only 

 about nine years and we felt that when re- 

 pairs were made that they should be done 

 in such a way that there would not be a 

 necessity for their renewal in such a com- 

 paratively short time. The plan was 

 worked out by myself but considerable 

 aid as to details was given me by an archi- 

 tect neighbor who was greatly interested 

 on account of some construction methods 

 which were new to both of us. 



Another disadvantage of the 

 cut-under porch is that it does 

 not allow as free circulation of 

 air as is desirable. To over- 

 come this it was decided to 

 enlarge the porch to project 

 beyond the houseline, making 

 a sort of terrace. The original 

 size of the porch was 8 x 32 

 feet and it was extended 8 feet 

 each way so that it now meas- 

 ures 16 x 40 feet, making a 

 roomy play-place for the child- 

 ren in muddy weather, and a 

 delightful place to sit in the 

 evening as one can be sheltered 

 or sit under the open sky. 



A point of considerable in- 

 terest to me is that I was able 

 to accomplish the greater part 

 of the work unaided during 

 my vacation. During certain 

 parts of the work I had help, 

 as three men beside myself 

 worked for two days at setting 

 the columns. One 

 day would have suf- 

 ficed had not our 

 jack broken. Two 

 men helped one day 

 in casting the larger 

 set of steps. But 

 for the late delivery 

 of supplies I believe 

 I would have been 

 able to finish the 

 work, but as it was, 

 had to leave it to 

 three men. The 

 physical benefit I 



derived was as great as I would have ob- 

 tained from a camping trip to Maine, and 

 besides there is the substantial improvement 

 to our home. 



The sill of the porch was supported as is 

 customary, on a stone wall. This was used 

 to support the four iron columns which re- 

 placed the six wooden ones. The archi- 

 tect neighbor tried to persuade me to make 

 these appear larger by a concrete or brick 

 coating, but I decided to try the effect in 

 their original form and have yet to feel 

 that we should change them. Naturally 

 a bulky column would detract from the 



As things looked before the porch was extended 



open effect. Eight feet from the founda- 

 tion wall and parallel to it an 18-inch 

 trench was dug and filled with concrete 

 to form a foundation for the 8 x 12 x 12 

 inch hollow tile which forms the exterior 

 wall of the porch. That part which forms 

 the balustrade was made of 6 x 12 x 12 

 inch tile. A concrete supporting wall 

 four inches thick was made against the 

 foundation wall of the house, and an iron 

 beam continued the wall on which the 

 column rested to the end hollow tile wall. 

 •Steps were cast in concrete at the two ends. 

 Hyrib metal, 28 inches x 8 feet, was laid on 

 the 8-inch tile and the wall supporting the 

 columns, and on the latter and the 4-inch in- 

 side concrete wall, being braced underneath 

 by 2 x 4s. On this concrete was laid to a min- 

 imum depth of 3 inches and a maximum 

 of 5 inches, so securing drainage. A fin- 

 ishing coat of one inch was laid over walls 

 and floor, and a coping was cast on narrow 

 pieces of hyrib laid on the wall. 



As a result we have an improvement 

 which we find delightful and if ever we are 

 so unfortunate as to lose our home by fire 

 we will have the porch at least as a nu- 

 cleus for a new home. 



The cost of this improvement exclusive 

 of mv own labor was as follows : 



4 iron columns . 



$25.00 



Iron beam .... 



2.50 



Sand 



25.60 



Stone 



53-02 



Hollow tile 



45-49 



Hyrib 



42.49 



Labor about 



13-75 



The final result, a livable, permanent porch, with vines established on the walls 



Concrete takes the place of wood and is indestructible 



Notice, how the frame for plants is brought into use 



$213-75 



To give a personal touch to 

 the porch, two Moravian tiles, 

 the Dog of Nuremburg and 

 the Knight of Nuremburg were 

 inserted at two ends of the 

 balustrade. It is quite im- 

 possible to show the attrac- 

 tiveness of the porch in the 

 photographs, it is even more 

 impossible to tell how much 

 it has added to our comfort 

 and pleasure. The children 

 find it an excellent place for a 

 playhouse in the open, yet per- 

 fectly dry, and there are times 

 too when they may be seen 

 amusing themselves on roller 

 skates. True, the 

 available floor space 

 does not make a big 

 rink, yet the young- 

 sters find plenty of 

 space for a good deal 

 of sport there. 



Already, as the 

 latest photograph 

 shows, a little begin- 

 ning has been made 

 in establishing climb- 

 ing vines, which will 

 enhance the beauty 

 of the place. 



81 



