Problem Solving Is Just One Part Of Our Porch Transformation Process At The Porch Company

Tucked away in the inviting Sylvan Park area of Nashville, Tennessee, The Porch Company recently undertook a project that showcased our expertise in custom porch design and problem-solving capabilities.

Our client, a homeowner with a passion for outdoor living, sought to replace an aging porch structure with a new, functional space that harmonized with the historic charm of their home while overcoming challenges posed by an existing storm drain easement.

Understanding The Porch Design Challenge

The storm drain easement in the backyard posed a unique challenge, limiting the size and scope of the new porch. However, our experienced porch design and engineering team saw this as an opportunity to think creatively and develop a solution.

Rather than seeing the storm drain easement as a limitation, we embraced it as a design feature. Our team designed a two-room porch for the Sylvan Park home with different roof lines, one vaulted and one with a flat roof, strategically maximizing the available space while maintaining the desired aesthetics. This approach not only addressed the size restrictions but also added architectural interest to the porch.

An Intimate Porch Al Fresco Dining Area

One of the rooms in the porch is dedicated to creating an intimate al fresco dining area, perfect for enjoying meals with family and friends. The seating arrangement, carefully designed to accommodate eight guests comfortably, invites lively conversations and memorable gatherings.

The Second Porch Room Provides Luxurious Seating For Family And Guests

The gable roof portion of the porch became the gathering space, offering seating options for both the family and their guests. This versatile area served as a hub for relaxation, entertainment, and quality time spent outdoors. Our team provided some needed privacy by installing a 1x6 cypress wall that adds a warm and cozy feel to the outdoor living space.

An Exterior-Centered Entrance Door, Complete With A Doggie Access

To ensure seamless access to both rooms of the porch, we installed an exterior-centered entrance door. This thoughtful addition not only facilitates easy movement between the spaces but also includes a doggie access panel, catering to the furry family members and their convenience.

Attention To Detail And Finishing Touches

To enhance the comfort and functionality of the new porch, we incorporated ceiling height heating elements, ensuring year-round enjoyment even during cooler seasons. An oversized fan provides a gentle breeze on warm days, while carefully placed accent lighting adds ambiance and highlights the architectural features of the porch.

Cypress wood is known for its natural durability and resistance to rot, decay, and insect damage. This makes it an excellent choice for outdoor applications like screened porches, where exposure to the elements is inevitable. Also, cypress wood has natural oils that help it withstand moisture and weathering, making it ideal for environments with varying humidity levels and weather conditions.

Solid 1X cypress boards are relatively stable and less prone to warping or twisting, especially when properly installed and maintained by our expert team. This stability ensures that the new porch maintains its structural integrity over time. Furthermore, cypress wood has a beautiful, distinct grain pattern and a warm, honey-toned color that adds character and charm to the interior of a screened porch. Its natural beauty enhances the overall aesthetic of the space.

The flooring of the new porch, made of heat-modified Ash, not only offers durability but also contributes to a warm and inviting atmosphere.

For long term stability and dimensional stability, heat modification enhances the durability of Ash wood, making it more resistant to decay, rot, and insect damage. This increased durability is especially beneficial in outdoor environments where the porch floor is exposed to moisture, sunlight, and varying weather conditions.

Also, heat-modified Ash is less prone to shrinking, swelling, or warping compared to untreated wood. This dimensional stability ensures that the porch floor maintains its shape and integrity over time, reducing the need for frequent maintenance or repairs.

Client Collaboration And Personalization Courtesy Of The Porch Company

Kudos to the Sylvan Park homeowner for their collaboration and personal touches that further enhances the porch's appeal. Their decision to paint the back wall of the house inside the porch created a cohesive and inviting environment, making the porch feel like a natural extension of their home, rather than an addition.

The Porch Company's meticulous attention to detail, innovative design solutions, and commitment to client satisfaction were showcased in the transformation of this exquisite two-room porch in Sylvan Park. From overcoming challenges posed by a storm drain easement to creating functional and inviting spaces, our team's expertise shone through, resulting in a porch that not only meets but exceeds the client's expectations.

Your Sylvan Park Solution For Porch Perfection

The Porch Company is a design/build construction company focusing on creating screen porches, open-air porches and outdoor structures that fit your lifestyle.

Be it a screened in porch, an open air porch, a front porch or other outdoor structures, connect with us for a complimentary design consultation.

Call us at 629-209-1672, email us at hello@porchcompany.com or simply click right here to connect to us.

Oak Hill TN Combination Backyard Deck, Screened Porch, Grill Area And Widow’s Walk Are The Talk Of The Town

For more than 50 years, this Oak Hill TN residence had a concrete slab raised patio at the rear of the home. As it was high time for a major change, they called The Porch Company to transform and reinvent the area.

Out With The Old, And In With The New

 After removing the existing concrete slab patio, our team went to work to create one of the most spectacular backyard transformations in recent memory. From the rear landscape, this new vision in white adds dimension, depth, and visual drama to this family home. Expanding the rear of the home into the yard, they now enjoy both the exterior and interior views of this stunning combination outdoor oasis.

Accented by interesting landscaping and architecturally interesting seasonal steel planter boxes, you walk six steps up on the left from the backyard and enter a generously appointed grill area.

We used the Hermitage sleeve on the exterior staircase posts and Fortress SP56 black iron railing to surround that adjacent area.

Continuing this reveal of high style, for the new lower deck, we used Tongue and Groove AZEK PVC material.  This same innovative low maintenance material was used to craft the grill cabinet, finishing it with a granite countertop creating contemporary convenience with a classically finished accent.

A New Screened Porch Featuring Some Our Most Beautiful Proprietary Architectural Accents

Entering the new luxurious screened porch and outdoor dining room, you can’t help but notice our beautiful Sapele double doors. Also in the screened porch interior, we installed Thermory ash flooring with tongue and groove roof decking on the sloped beam ceiling.

Around the perimeter of the screened porch ceiling, we installed Solaira heaters to add a comfortable touch of warmth, when needed.

Speaking of warm touches, at the far left, a raised hearth ventless gas fireplace was installed and adorned with one of our Porch Store’s hand-hewn wooden mantles. Of special note, our mantels are designed to conceal any wiring within the mantel for flawless design continuity without sacrificing any necessary functionality. Creative thinking and planning – just another of our hallmarks.

Sometimes Less Is More

To provide a pure, unobstructed view of the installation from the rear landscape, we used PorchCo custom PVC fence to disguise the HVAC unit at the left rear of the lower level.

Keeping It High And Dry By Design

Another example of proactive design and build porch and deck methodology is that we intentionally sloped the foundation so that rainwater will intentionally drain away from the structure to keep it nice and dry, even in the most wet conditions.

The Icing On The Proverbial Cake – A Second Floor Balcony Porch

To enjoy the fresh Oak Hill breezes from the second floor of the home, we designed a Widow’s Walk porch and deck, protected by our custom PVC fence and PorchCo picket panels.

A Widow’s Walk is a special architectural feature, that provides an elevated vantage point for enjoying views of the rear landscape, which is deep and beautifully textured with greenery. This decorative element complements the large scale of the home and completes this unique outdoor living combination space.

As for the origin of the term, a "widow's walk" has historical ties to the wives of sailors or sea captains. It is said that these women would use the elevated platform to watch for the return of their husbands from sea voyages. Hence, the name "widow's walk" is derived from the idea that these women often spent anxious hours waiting for their loved ones to return, and sometimes, tragically, they became widows when their husbands were lost at sea.

We Look Forward To Hearing From You For Your Next Porch And Deck Renovation In Oak Hill TN

We are easy to talk to and even easier to connect with.

Call us at 615-662-2886.

Or click this link for a complimentary porch design consultation.

Why Choosing a Porch Contractor Can Make All the Difference

When it comes to building a porch, you will need a licensed general contractor for the job. However, we recommend hiring a general contractor who specializes in porches, aka a porch contractor.  He/she has specialized knowledge and experience, which makes them better equipped to handle the unique challenges that come with building a porch. Specifically, a porch contractor understands the intricacies of porch design and construction, including the structural requirements, materials, and finishes that ensure that your porch is built to last. They have the expertise and experience needed to ensure your porch is built to the highest standards and with your unique needs in mind. 

Here are five reasons why hiring a porch contractor is a smart move: 

1.Porch contractors understand how to deal with water. Whereas a general contractor spends their time and energy making sure no water enters the structure they build, a porch contractor understands what to do with the water that will inevitably get into the structure. 

A general contractor typically works with specialty materials (such as Zip board, flashing tape around the windows, super-efficient caulks, etc.) to ensure the water cannot get in.  As a result, they do not worry about how the interior is going to handle getting wet. For a porch builder, however, understanding how the porch will interact with water is a primary concern.  Despite any design, water is going to get inside the porch with enough wind, so making sure that water does not cause long-term maintenance issues is critical.  Some of the ways in which porch contractors specifically will address this issue is by:

• Using hip rooflines with large overhangs.

• When using tongue & groove wood flooring, sloping the porch floor, and making sure the floorboards are running in the direction of the slope to allow the water to flow out of the porch.  

• Planning for a place for the water to escape.  By not blocking the flow of water, the wood can dry out, and rot will not set in. 

2. Porch contractors understand how to deal with prevailing winds. Whereas general contractors are focused on walls that insulate, porch builders are focused on walls that breathe so considering how the winds affect your experience is part of the job.

Most homeowners, and most contractors, don’t spend a lot of time worrying about which way the wind blows against your house. But everyone that has been downwind of grill smoke or blowing rain knows that the direction the wind is blowing affects your porch life experience. If you have a gable roof open to the prevailing wind you will certainly notice it, but these are things a porch designer will take into consideration when designing your porch!

3. Porch contractors understand how to deal with the sun. Whereas general contractors are focused on window placement, a porch contractor must consider many more factors.

Everyone loves the way the sun streams through our windows, adding light and warmth to our homes.  Adding a porch can potentially block existing views and light. However, considering the orientation of the porch or adding skylights or sun tunnels, you can bring a lot of that sun back!  When considering the sun, a porch contractor will: 

• Consider if you’re getting too much sun into west-facing windows (and can then position the porch to provide the shade you need).  

• Account for the angle of the sun when placing the TV.  

• Consult on whether you need shades, curtains or shutters for the later afternoon sun that hits straight at eye level. 

  A designer that is familiar with porches is trained to think of all these things where a general contractor might not be. A room with open walls interacts with the light much differently than a walled-in room.

4. Porch contractors understand the unique materials needed and what will work well under different conditions. Their experience and expertise can extend the life and quality of your construction considerably. 

Asking wood, especially wood laid flat as on a floor, to take the full brunt of the sun and the rain is asking too much of both the wood and of the homeowner that must maintain it! The solution is synthetic decking such as the ones by TimberTech/Azek.  They require minimal maintenance and look just as good 10, 20 years later!  Synthetic railings, such as the decorative cellular PVC railing provided by our sister company, The Porch Store, are also popular for their ability to withstand the elements. A wood floor is still a good (and much less expensive) alternative but only when covered by a roof.  If the wood floor is properly installed (as mentioned above: sloped with an escape route for water), it will last as long as the porch with minimal maintenance. 

5. Porch contractors stay on top of outdoor trends and innovations.

There was a time when a porch was not much more than a deck with a roof. Since then, porches have been integrated into the design of the house with more complimentary roof lines, materials more in keeping with the house, and even painting them to look like a worthy component of the home. In our many years in porch construction, we have seen major changes to porches, like: 

• Space for a game table or yoga mat

• Fireplaces and heaters that extend the days on the porch

• Built-in kitchens that get more sophisticated each year

• Shutters, blinds, and curtains that make them more comfortable 

• Cabinets that hide TVs and safely store it when not in use

• Swing beds that can convert between couch or daybed

• And so much more.

  
  In conclusion, if you're planning to build a porch, it's worth considering hiring a porch contractor rather than a general contractor. The specialized expertise, personalized attention, and passion that porch contractors offer can make all the difference in ensuring that your porch is built to your satisfaction for many years and memories to come. Are you ready to let The Porch Company design and build the perfect porch for you? Then look no further. You can give us a ring for a free consultation at 615-662-2886, option #2 or email us at hello@porchcompany.com or click this link .