New Back Porch

This has been our back porch since we moved into our house 2 years ago. And due to the crazy humidity of Houston, TX we have never felt a desire to worry much about having a bigger back porch for BBQ's and such. You'll notice the big mud puddles on both sides of the porch. Every time it rains we get 2 HUGE waterfalls pouring off our roof and onto the sides of the porch, and because it's so humid they NEVER dry. So after 2 years we've gotten sick of these puddles and have decided to extend our porch to make it more useful.

First we had to plot it all out. With a bit of string and some broken wire hangers (I think that's what they were) it's all in place.

Next step is the "free" labor. Jared was out there for quite some time, sweating his brains out, digging up all the grass. But we put all that sod to good use and filled in some roley parts in the back yard.

The next step was the frame work, which as you can see Jared got in. But the last step is the actual cement. Alas, it rained for a week strait. So instead of a larger porch we have had 2 swimming pools on both sides. So we had to wait for that to dry, COMPLETELY! Which took quite a lot longer than we'd have liked, something like 5 days.

So last came the concrete. Jared found some crazy place that mixed it all up for us, then he'd drive it home in this huge trailer. He'd then dump a load into the wheel barrow, bring it around back and pour it into the different sections. Then I'd get the joy of moving it all around to make it all even.

Next we flattened it out with the board, and Jared would then use the big float thing, and scrape it all nice and smooth. I tried to "smooth" some of his "smooth" bits when he went around front, and he ended up having to re-smooth them for me. I didn't try to re-smooth after that.

Of course we had to add in some hand prints of the family. What good it making your own back porch if you can't put a stamp on it. The obscure one on the right is Charlie's.

And here's the finished product. Eventually we will tile the whole thing, put a round picnic table complete with umbrella where Charlie is standing, and of course, finally get the BBQ over where the hammock is. Man this was a lot of work, but it turned out beautiful.