Thoughts on building a porch

[griffta]

Hi guys,

I've been considering building a porch on the front of my house, only something small with a minimal amount of brickwork required, mainly a uPVC door and a couple of window units.

I'm not a builder but I'm keen to give this a go. I've heard that a porch does not require planning permission in most cases. I estimate the size would only be around 1.5m x 2m at most.

I've done quite a search of the net and i cant find any guides/plans to give me a starting point so i was wondering if anyone in the forums had some pointers?

Many thanks in advance,

Matt.

 

[antdad1969]

Just pick a porch you like the look of and ask owners if you can take measurements or pictures. Although small they can be rather involving and if I were you I would definitely get a bricky in to do the main blockwork. If you bodge it you can certainly ruin the whole look of the house. There are more bodged porches out there than decent ones. Try and get the proportions correct and translate the style of your own house as much as possibe. ie Roofing structure, tile selection and colour, Window type etc. That way it wont look like an after thought...good luck.

 

[^woody^]

... i was wondering if anyone in the forums had some pointers?

What do you want to know? How to build it or how to go about building it?

You wont need any permissions by the sound of it.

A shallow concrete strip foundation (about 500 deep or to suitable firm ground), a DPM (polythene sheet) under the [concrete] floor slab, some 215mm solid walls - brick inside if you want brick, or use block inside and plaster if you like, then fit the frames, and then fit the roof.

For a flat roof I would use EPDM rubber.

Think about drainage from the roof - into an existing drain or a new soakaway?

Either order the frames and build to a set size, or build the walls first then order the frames to suit

Make sure you have a couple of trickle vents in the frames

Bear in mind the swing of the door, so think about how the door will open and people enter. You see lots of people having to open the door on themselves and to squash themselves into a corner to let people come in

 

[PerryOne]

The point of having a porch is to make an air lock so that you can move in and out of your home without loosing too much warm air. Close one door before opening the other.
The last thing it needs is ventilation, ventilation equals loss of heat.

 

[Deluks]

Porches are many people leave their outside shoes and wet jackets etc. I would say ventilation is a necessity. I don't see that much heat will be lost through a trickle vent while the front door is open for a moment as you enter.

 

[Thermo]

The point of having a porch is to make an air lock so that you can move in and out of your home without loosing too much warm air. Close one door before opening the other.
The last thing it needs is ventilation, ventilation equals loss of heat.

ventilation equals change of air equals healthy environment and no condensation

 

[^woody^]

The last thing it needs is ventilation, ventilation equals loss of heat.

My oh my.

Try this equation instead - ventilation equals no condensation

 

[noseall]

The last thing it needs is ventilation, ventilation equals loss of heat.

not necessarily. venting may mean some heat loss, but this needn't be dramatic so long as the movement of air is controlled.

 

[PerryOne]

May I mention that the moment you open the door all the warm air inside disappears into the sky.
By the time you have opened the door moved into the porch and closed the door again, you have had some air change.

We do not, as a rule live in our porch, we merely pass through (therefore, no humidity)- as we do the air is changed, then we move indoors or outdoors, usually without delay.

At other times however, the porch acts as a buffer/insulation to the "door" helping to keep the noise out (that one car a day that will drive past) and re-in forces the insulation of the "door."

We do have a cloakroom to hang the coats and hats that are in use.

 

[^woody^]

(therefore, no humidity)

Do you live on the moon?

How did you get this moisture free atmosphere?

And if "the moment you open the door all the warm air inside disappears into the sky" then you either have one hell of a draught problem, or this is an aircraft hanger door

Any cool, unheated space with no constant air movement and means of constant air replacement (like a porch) will be prone to condensation issues

 

[Deluks]

*Guardian reader alert*

 

[Richard C]

You almost certainly won’t need PP for a porch but local conditions may mean that you do so it’s worth checking; phone your local council & check. A porch will only remain a porch & be exempt from Building Regulations if;

a) if you keep an exterior grade door between the main dwelling & the porch
b) you don’t stick heating in it or if you do it can be separately controlled & isolated

Ours is around 2.2m x 1.7m & was built over existing foundations in an open but undercover porch with a pitch roof. A new concrete slab & DPM was laid to bring up the level & we used a low level cavity wall with DPC on 2 of the 3 sides; the 3rd wall is the existing single skin garage which was battened, insulated, plaster boarded over & skimmed, as was the rest of the porch.