I have an open front porch that I want to enclose and make into a "mud room." Porch is approx 7 feet square with a gable roof that is tied into the main house roof. The porch itself consists of two 6x6 PT timbers set on concrete footings at the front, with a platform made of 2x8 joists that are fastened to the main house under the front door (like a deck). The main house is covered with vinyl siding. I would like to enclose this porch just to get out of the weather for removing shoes and jackets.

My idea is to frame walls on the three exposed sides (front, left, and right) securing the wall plates into the existing platform and roof. I would frame openings for either a storm door (or possibly a second front door) as well as a openings for windows on each side. The roof and floor are permanently tied into the main house with the two side walls being attached top, bottom, and to the two aforementioned vertical timbers at the front. The whole thing would be covered probably a shake siding.

Does this sound like a reasonable plan? Structurally, I would only be adding three 2x4 walls. Am I missing something that could be a problem? The only thing I see that might be an issue is that the two side walls would not be fastened to the front of the main house. But I really don't want to have to open up the exterior wall of the main house.

Thanks!

 

Your plan sounds reasonable. Depending on how your house is sided it might be easier to get into the exterior siding. If you don't you likely won't have a straight surface for your new walls to abut. You might need to cut a vertical strip out of your siding and install a vertical board to the house. This vertical board then becomes the straight surface where your wall ends.

The first step would be to contact your local Zoning and Building Inspection Departments to find out what permits or approvals you might need.

 

Thanks, There is no zoning or building codes in my town so that isn't an issue. I take your point about a flat surface but if I'm not attaching the walls to the main home this probably isn't an issue. My plan, to seal the gap, was to scribe a piece of 1x4 trim that would fit against the vinyl siding of the main house.

 

Vinyl siding needs to flex as it moves with temp changes. It would be better to cut out a strip of siding and install the 1x4 [or 2x4] directly to the sheeting.

 

But with my plan, I would not disturb the existing vinyl siding. It would simply pass behind the new wall. I would probably caulk between the scribed trim board and existing vinyl. Would the caulking be enough to prevent the vinyl movement? (Keeping in mind that the vinyl has room to expand from there to each corner of the house).

 

Caulk would probably prevent that portion of the vinyl from expanding contracting but maybe at the expense of the siding buckling a little ways away.

 

So I think I want to do as you suggest and cut out the vinyl siding where the new wall meets the existing wall. What I would like to do is install vinyl shakes on the new porch walls. How would I blend the old vinyl siding around the inside corner and then finish up the new walls with shakes? I also noticed that, where I want to cut the existing vinyl, is near the end of a long piece of siding. So after it is cut, there will be a short length about 12 inches or so. Don't know if that's going to be a problem. I will post a photo tomorrow showing what it looks like. Thanks for your comments!

 

I'm a painter not a siding guy but generally you have an end piece [channel?] where one section of siding stops. You'd use something like that when you change siding types on the same wall. I suspect a 12" piece of siding could be an issue as they are typically nailed every 16"

 

Thanks... I might try a separate post in another forum... Thanks for your help!

 

I have a project planned to enclose a small front porch (6'x7'). The two side walls will connect to the main house which has vinyl siding (clapboard style). I have two issues that I am uncertain about, and was hoping to get some advice/insight on the best way to go about.

1) I need to cut away a vertical section of the vinyl siding to fasten the new wall frame to the existing structure. I'm not sure of the best way to go about this.

2) Once the new wall is up, I want to install vinyl shakes to the new addition. So I need to transition the inside corner (where the existing vinyl meets the new wall stud) into the vinyl shakes on the new wall.

I've been searching the internet for steps in transitioning vinyl siding into a new addition but haven't been able to find anything. I would appreciate any advice on this project or a pointer to literature or video as a guide.

Thanks!

 

First off, you dont want to cut the siding, you want to take it down off the wall that you are attaching the new wall too then reside.

You just use inside corner pieces, one side will fit with the existing siding you took down in step 1 and the new siding inserts into other.

 

Ya... I was afraid of that. I may actually have to abandon the project... For now anyway. This will be way too involved for me to tackle on my own. I've done all kinds of home projects but the one thing I have zero experience with is taking down and reinstalling vinyl siding. Many of the pieces leading up to the intersection are 16 feet long, going around windows on either side of the house. So I would basically need to remove the siding from the entire front of the house. Not to mention that I have no idea where the siding came from or how I could match it if a piece were to get damaged.

 

FWIW, matching vinyl siding can be a nightmare due to it fading. I had a neighbor who added a sunroom two years after the home was built and the siding company ended up having to side the whole house for free under warranty due to the degree to which the original siding had faded in that limited amount of time.

 

One thread per topic please... no duplicate or cross forum posting. This is the correct forum for the siding discussion.

 

Ya, my siding is a light beige but it is 12 years old facing west in direct sunlight. So if it got damaged I might need to replace the whole front of the house. I'm sure I could do this, I'm just not ready to tackle that big of a job right now. I was hoping there was another way to add walls to my porch for winter but there doesn't appear to be. Thanks for all the comments!

 

Not sure how these two threads got combined. I started out under another forum asking about framing and general construction of my project. When it became clear that I had a siding issue, I posted a new topic in the siding forum.