Porches
Porches That Reach The Outdoors
You have a lovely home with large and airy rooms and your front door leads out onto a porch that overlooks the front of your house. There are several architectural elements that can be added to enhance the look of a home and most independent houses will have a porch that adorns the façade of the structure. Older structures, especially some Victorian-style houses sport a large front porch and can serve as a venue for a house party or a small gathering.
Retreat Into Your Zone
If your existing home does not have a porch, Calvert Handyman and Home Improvement can help with designing one that fits right in with the architecture of the house. A small porch can serve some basic functions. You may not be able to use it for a celebration that involves a larger group but it can be a small space where you can spend a few leisurely moments in.
Variety In Beauty
It really depends on how much space you have in and around your house and how you choose to use it. Here are some outdoor structures that are distinctively different though most of them serve similar purposes.
• A deck is more often than not, raised wooden floor with a railing, which is attached to the back-door of a house.
• A patio on the other hand is generally a roofless, paved surface that occupies the space adjoining a house and could be made of slate, stone or cement or a mix-or-match of these materials.
• A sunroom is somewhat like a porch and has many windows that let in ample sunlight. They can have windows that run from the floor to the ceiling and some even have ceilings that are enclosed in glass. Even an apartment can have a sunroom. In some cases the deck in your house can be converted into a sunroom with the use of glass windows that have been fitted in an aluminum framework or. Shingled roofs and traditional walls may also be incorporated in some sunrooms.
• A pergola, sometimes referred to as an arbor is more of a garden feature. It is a formation of vertical columns or pillars that support a grid of beams and forms a passageway or a walkway. It could also be a structure that covers a sitting area.
• A gazebo is a variation of an arbor and adds to the ambience of a garden. It is a slightly raised structure and is open on all sides.
A lot of these structures originated from the need to have bright, airy spaces to spend leisurely moments in. Air-conditioning did not exist then and all home design plans included one or more of these features. With real-estate prices at a premium today, these are more of a luxury than need but you can still create your own little place in the sun.
