A quick word of advice...if you own a home, and you have a pickup truck - keep it! I had one of these...
Then I had one of these...
Now I have one of these...
And the other day I had to get some plywood and boards and bring it home in one of these...
And I won't get into it here, but Lowes no longer has people who deal with their vehicle rentals, it's done through a kiosk from Hertz. Suffice to say, four hours, two broke-down trucks, AAA (triple A), and many calls later...I had seven sheets of plywood and seven boards home. If you have a pickup truck - keep it! If gas goes to $10 a gallon - keep it. If you have to work a second job, skip meals three days a week, and someone in your house has to go barefoot - whatever it takes - keep your pickup truck!
Okay, rant over. Half of a day off from work was lost, and a perfect weather day at that, but I still managed to get a little done. Along one side of the house is an old sidewalk. It's a little odd because it's really close to the house, and in all the years we've been at 173, I don't think I've ever actually walked on it!
But the real problem was that it was in the way of my plans for the porch so...
Sledge hammer, and ten minutes later, out it came. Now, if you own an old house you know that anytime you take something out, or open something up, you're going to find more work to do. So here's the issue:
I know you're probably looking at that picture above and thinking, "So! He has some plant roots, big deal!" Well, the fact is I'm not a great photographer so what I was trying to show was that the porch is eight feet wide coming off the front of the house, and in that expanse there is no support at all. None. On the other hand, it's still solid as can be, but I can't open something up and see that and not do something to bolster the situation. I haven't done the complete job yet (like give some support all the way across from underneath), but I did add some support on this side for now:
It's not much support, but I think it should help (as if it's even needed it thus far!).