# Raised concrete porch



## greyrat (Jun 1, 2010)

My raised concrete porch has had some issues over the years (was a wreck when I bought the house but hidden by mammoth bushes).  I'm about to sell the house so I've decided to finally address the porch.  There has been a problem with water running toward the house (picture with red arrow is where it seems to run to), which has comprimised the porch.  The brick on the front has bowed out and is being replaced as well.  There are 2 concrete pads - the larger one has cracked into 3 large pieces but is covered by and awning.  The smaller pad tilts back toward the house and water collects in the corner.  My question is when I get the concrete pads removed - what type of backfill should go into porch?  Is it peafill/peastone?  The existing fill just looks like dirt and loose broken brick + plus some mudjack where I had the sunken porch lifted about 5years ago.  And should I dig out enough of the existing fill to put some type of tyvek or other foundation insulator and use liquid nails to attach to the foundation??  I'm looking to do this right so that the next owner doesn't have to deal with this expensive nightmare.


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## handyguys (Jun 2, 2010)

Thats a pretty big project, lots of concrete. Are you doing it yourself? If not, your contractor should be able to address all your questions.

Bottom line, everything should pitch away from the house. The fill can be dirt and/or rubble but should be compacted. Liquid nails isnt used to attach two foundations.

My concrete porch was built with footers at the depth of the main house foundation and foundation walls, on my porch, were poured concrete at the same time as the basement walls. Rebar in the forms makes the connection.

To retrofit that you would drill holes for rebar into the existing foundation, epoxy in place, and then pour new foundation. Let your concrete guy worry about that. Mixing up that much concrete from bags is near impossible.

I would...
Demolish everything
have concrete contractor set forms and do the pour(s)
have mason do the brick facing (either veneer or real brick)
re-set any posts, rails, etc.

Good luck


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## jimioc (Jun 21, 2010)

you are going to spend a lot of money to redo the brick and cement - here is an idea - remove the porch and replace it with a deck using treated wood and trex for the top - or if you wanted to go with something nice you could use IPE  which makes for a great look


good luck with it !


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## itsreallyconc (Jun 21, 2010)

find a conc & masonary guy who can overlay the porch while regrading it at the same time,,, he'll be able to isntall foam expansion jnt & properly seal so wtr doesn't penetrate any longer,,, probably best looking for a dec conc artisan.

we've done many of that type project,,, best !


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