The Process

One porch on Summit Avenue in Madison, followed from the first board lifted to the last coat of stain.

Taking it apart

The old porch floor had reached the end of its life. It came up board by board until only the framing was left, so everything underneath could be checked before anything new went down.

The old floor lifted, with the framing exposed — The old floor lifted, framing exposed

The porch stripped down to its joists — Down to the joists

The space under the porch, looking along the framing — Under the porch

Laying the new floor

New tongue-and-groove boards went down one at a time. Each is screwed at its edge, so the fasteners hold tight and none show on the finished floor.

New flooring boards laid out on a brick path — New boards, delivered

The first new boards laid along the porch, under a hanging lantern — The first boards going down

New boards partway across the porch — Working across the porch

A driver resting on new floorboards with screws set at a board's edge — Driver and screws at the board's edge

The underside of the new floor seen from below — The new floor from underneath

Most of the porch floor laid, with tools on the boards — Most of the floor laid

Fitting at the columns and edges

The slow part is where the floor meets something else. Around each column base and along the outer edge, pieces were marked, cut and fitted by hand.

A hammer and chisel at the base of a column — Clearing out under a column base

New flooring meeting the base of a column — The floor meeting a column base

A cut line marked in pencil on a floorboard beside a column base — A cut marked out in pencil

A hand holding a small piece of flooring cut to fit a gap — A piece cut to fit

Glue, a drill and small fitted pieces at a column base — Glued and fastened in place

A circular saw at the outer edge of the new floor — Trimming the outer edge

A pen and a block marking the overhang of a board — Marking the overhang

Trim

New trim closes the joint where the floor meets the house and the column bases.

New trim meeting the base of a column — Trim meeting a column base

A long run of new trim along the house — The run along the house

The column and its pier

One column, and the pier beneath it, needed more than paint. The roof was held on temporary posts while the column came out and was rebuilt in the shop, and the pier was repaired. Then it all went back, with the trim around it.