Porch And Portico Contractor
Porch And Portico Contractor is Fairfax Contractor. We build all types of portico and porch projects in Northern Virginia. Many builders in Northern Virginia do not design or build their homes with a proper portico or porch covering their front stoop. The main problem with this is if a guest arrives at your home and it’s raining, they can stand out in the rain in the instant the door. Many of our clients here at Fairfax Contractor want to remodel and redesign the entrance to their homes.
As you know, this is the 1st thing someone sees when they arrive at your home. Most homes built before the mid-1980s did not have a foundation system under their front stoop. That being said, you may be unable to build your new porch cover or portico over your existing stoop system. The only way to determine if your existing stoop would support a portico or porch is to have an engineer check the footing depth of your stoop and verify that it can hold the load of a new structure.
Free Estimate Request
Free Estimate Request
Designing Your Portico Or Porch
Designing a new porch or portico takes a trained designer’s expertise to be pleasing to the eye and code compliant. The first step in designing your portico is determining if you can or want to reuse your existing stoop. Because all porticos and porches built in Northern Virginia will ultimately require a building permit, this stoop must structurally support the structure above it. If a licensed civil engineer deems your stoop to be a slab on grade, it must be removed. Once your existing stoop has been demolished, you have a fresh canvas to design the stoop section of your portico or porch. Old codes require the foundation of a portico porch to be placed 24 inches below grade and on bearing soil. After 2017 porches and portico projects need to be excavated to the foundation of your home. The first building inspection will be a footing inspection for your stoop. The inspector will check the depth, soil compaction, and rebar placement before any further building can occur. In designing a porch for the front of your home, you need to consider both the design and the size this will be determined by your budget, window placement in your house, and your wish list for how the project will look when it’s finished. The design concept of a portico dates back to ancient Greece, where many buildings and homes featured elaborate porticos. Fairfax Contractor can design a wide range of porticos depending on your taste and your home’s architecture. Some of the portico choices include the flat roof portico, which typically has an architectural railing detail on the flat roof of the structure. Another popular design includes a gabled roof portico that fits more closely with a colonial-style home often found in VA. . Many people dream of building a front porch that is a sitting area where they can place rocking chairs and watch their kids and the world go by. As a design-build company, we can take your ideas and concepts and turn them into the reality.
Portico and Porch Foundations
If your current porch stoop is built to current codes and you plan to reuse it. If you want to change the size, you will need a building permit. In most cases, your existing stoop will have to be demolished to make way for your new portico or porch project. As discussed earlier, the size of the project is your decision, all based on budgetary restraints and architectural designs you want to incorporate into your home. For us, the pull the necessary building permits that are required in all Northern Virginia jurisdictions, a complete set of plans, including the foundation plans, must be submitted to County building officials for permitting. Once the footings have been excavated to the required depth and approved by your local building inspector, we can pour the concrete foundation footing. Depending on the height of your stoop, we will then take from the poured concrete footing and build up the base with 8″x 8″x 16″ CMU (cinder block) to the desired height. The void left after building up the foundation with block must be backfilled, typically with dirt left over from the excavation, and topped with #57 gravel. All the backfill and gravel will be compacted with a plate tamper, then a layer of 5 mm plastic will be placed in the foundation board vapor barrier. After the vapor barrier has been placed on your stoop, depending on the engineer’s recommendation, either welded wire mesh or rebar will be installed to reinforce the slab. The stoop and stairs. If required, will be framed out with lumber for your inspection before placing concrete. Most counties in Virginia will require a slab inspection at this point in the project, the inspector will ensure that the engineered plans have the required amount of steel and vapor barrier installed. Upon passing the slab inspection, Fairfax Contractor will pour your portico or porch stoop typically with a 3500 PSI concrete mixture that includes residential fiberglass reinforcement, air entertained, and plasticizers for the strongest slab base.
Repairing A Failing Portico Contractor Northern Virginia
Repairing A failing portico contractor in Northern Virginia is Fairfax Contractor. If your existing portico fails or needs repair, we are a Northern Virginia portico repair contractor. For more information on repairing failing or leaking porticos, click this link.
Porch Or Portico Base Material
After your porch or portico slab has been poured then, you must decide what type of material you want to finish this stoop with. Some people are content with fine broom-finished concrete if you’re on a budget. This may be an option. But to fully complete this project, you must consider nearing the concrete with either brick, flagstone, or even travertine marble. When it comes to clay brick pavers, these are a natural choice because bricks have been historically used in northern Virginia since colonial times in many homes. Pennsylvania flagstone as a covering for the stoop of your portico or porch makes sense on many levels. Pennsylvania flagstone is one of the few that can stand up to the extreme temperature changes we experience in Virginia. Pennsylvania flagstone comes in various choices from pattern square cut, irregular, and premium thermal cut blue. If you want to customize the base of your portico or porch truly, you may want to consider utilizing travertine pavers. We have a unique relationship with suppliers in Turkey and Italy that import some of the finest travertine pavers in the world. We can offer our customers huge discounts on this classic building material. As a portico and porch cover company, we offer some of the finest paving materials you will find anywhere.
