Tear down of porch ceiling

Hello,

We have a 1920s twin that had a vinyl ceiling on it. We tore it off to
a. check for leaks
b. Remove rotten ceiling someone covered with vinyl
c. Consider opening up the ceiling so its vaulted
d. add a fan

I’ve attached a picture of what we found. Our neighbors (down the street) have an open vaulted ceiling and we liked it, but we have rafters that cross from the house to the front of the porch.
Here are some questions:

1. Has anyone seen a porch like this before? Are the rafters that cross from the house to the front of the porch these structural or can they be removed?

2. The wood above the porch is cobbled together, some T&G, some thick and wide pieces that are black, others that are newer and lighter colored, not the prettiest pieces of wood. At some places there are gaps between the wood where you can see the roofing material.
a. How much would it cost (ballpark) to redeck the roof and replace shingles (you can see the approximate size).
b. If that’s too expensive, provided it doesn’t leak, can I just cover the bottom with T&G pine then paint or stain?

3. The brick on the bottom ¾ of the wall looks like it was scraped for a design (rug brick), but in the area I exposed it’s all smooth brick. Would they use two different bricks on construction, or was this effect (rug brick) applied later (the house was completely gutted and redone in 2007 or so)?

Thanks for any advice. I put up T&G pine on our bedroom ceiling using advice from this forum and it turned out great.

 

The construction method looks fairly standard. Hard to see detail in the pic but I assume the roof deck was patched at some point [removed rotted and replaced] Did the porch originally have a metal roof?

I'd spend money replacing the roof/shingles before I'd install a new ceiling. T&G on the ceiling would look great. If you stain - stain and apply 1-2 coats of poly prior to installation..... you can thank me later

Labor prices can vary greatly in different areas so it's best to get multiple estimates. Always check references before hiring a contractor!! Don't know anything about the brick but stay tuned, there are many here that know more than me

 

I agree that looks about normal for a house of that age. It was common practice to leave a gap between the boards. If the wood is in good condition there is no big reason to re-deck the roof but if there are rotten boards you can soon get to the point where it is better to just rip it all off or at least a large section and re-deck.

 

Those rafters are to keep the wall fron bowing out.

Really want an exposed ceiling then I would remove the roofing, all the sheathing and go back over it with 1-1/2 T&G.
Then install 2 X 6's as joist wraped in 1 X 6's so they look like faux beams.