Hangin' on the Porch (Part 2)

Yesterday I began the story of the porch renovation. If you missed it and are interested in the deconstruction phase, check it out here.

Now, to give you some time perspective, the porch project began in late November 2011 and wrapped up at the end of March 2012. It was winter in Detroit, so there were several weeks when we ("we" being the masonry crew) were just waiting out the weather. Some tasks could be done regardless of the temperature, such as the deconstruction, but things like new mortar and cement had to wait for milder weather.

To save you from having to flip back and forth to the before and after pictures, I've handily put them right here, side-by-side. I didn't know that I'd be putting these photos in a blog when I took them, so sorry, the angles don't match up just right. As always, click on a picture and scroll through to see the full size images.

And here are a couple shots of the completed porch. The new mortar still looks dark in comparison to the rest of the house, but I've been assured that it will fade in time.

Quite an improvement, right? I love it! Oh and here's an up close shot of the detail on the upper level of the porch that I told you about in the last post.

Besides the porch restoration, the masonry company tackled rebuilding portions of my garage, tuckpointing (replacing missing mortar) the entire house as needed, and removing and replacing the haphazard sidewalk in front of the house.

Here's a little photo rundown of those projects (I'll save the garage "after" shots for when I cover the roofing saga).

And I suppose this "Hangin' on the Porch" installment wouldn't be complete without this pic of some impromptu porch hangin' that took place after the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Corktown this year.