Wobbly porch soon to be mud room

[Jim Benante]

It's taking me a awhile, but I am almost finished with the interior. Here are some shots of my project.

It starts with the old entry way. The deck was leaning and wobbly. I was motivated and nieve about realistic time available for the project. I chose to go one step further than replacing the deck. I would make a mud room and then a deck. Well the addition is nearing completion and the deck has not begun. I have a 21 month old son and that is my excuse for not finishing sooner.

I performed all the work except for the spray foam insulation. I plan on installing pex tubing for radiant heat that will eventually tie into a system I plan to install in the rest of the home.

All in all I am enjoying the project. I had a great neighbor move away who was a great help when I needed an extra set of hands. Now I end up waiting for a chance to get help when my tasks require four instead of two hands.

I plan to build a deck that will extend four feet out from the new front door and then steps down to a platform with steps to the ground. Any ideas on how to make it fit well with the house? I am thinking somethinf similar to the original design although much better built. I am planning on using ipe for the deck.

[Jim Benante]

The room is small 10X6 so it's tough to get good pics.

[Tim Lynch]

Looking good! The sprayfoam is amazing, isn't it? I had it done in an addition to my house. Incredible insulation and airseal.

[Art Mulder]

looks good. does the bottom section open into the basement or garage?

Are you going to have any sort of a roof (weather shield) over the front door?

Looks great,

[Mark Hulette]

Looks like you've got a good handle on the project - I like the recessed lights. No suggestions on the deck, though. Keep us posted!

Not to hijack the thread but how does the spray foam insulation compare in cost vs R Value to standard fiberglass batts?

[Tyler Howell]

I like it
Interesting lighting features

[Jim Benante]

looks good. does the bottom section open into the basement or garage?

Are you going to have any sort of a roof (weather shield) over the front door?

Looks great,

At this point there is no way to get to the garage from the bottom room. I may in the future either utilize some of my crawl space or connect the room to the garage. It is storage right now for automotive and yard equipment. I'll shoot a picture to show how cluttered it is already.

The roof overhanngs the door by about a foot.

[Jim Benante]

Not to hijack the thread but how does the spray foam insulation compare in cost vs R Value to standard fiberglass batts?

Spray foam is not cheap by any means. I investigated buying a kit and found I could get a pro to do it for cheaper than the kit and shipping. See this thread for info http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=47490

It cost me $800 to spray the ceiling and walls on the top room and the ceiling on the bottom room. I figure since I did all the other work I could splurge a little on the insulation. I plan to have hydronic radiant heat in the future so I wanted a nice seal on the floor. In addition I had only 2X6 roof joists to work with and wanted to maintain the ceiling height.

[Mark Hulette]

Spray foam is not cheap by any means. I investigated buying a kit and found I could get a pro to do it for cheaper than the kit and shipping. See this thread for info http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=47490

It cost me $800 to spray the ceiling and walls on the top room and the ceiling on the bottom room. I figure since I did all the other work I could splurge a little on the insulation. I plan to have hydronic radiant heat in the future so I wanted a nice seal on the floor. In addition I had only 2X6 roof joists to work with and wanted to maintain the ceiling height.

Thanks for the info, Jim! We might be building a home in the near future and I'm doing a little homework as to cost vs efficiency & long-term vs short-term investments.

Good luck with your mud room and please keep us posted with your progress.

[Jim Benante]

Thought I'd share some further developments. Things have slowed a bit lately as my wife is pregnant again and she has been pretty "morning(all day) sick" so I have had to really step it up with the normal household duties and caring for our 22 month old boy.

Anyway, I am ready to install my 1/2" pex tubing. I have a few photos of the tubing layout w/out tubes installed. I have 3/4" plywood ripped to 7 1/4" and spaced 3/4" apart. It is glued and screwed in place. I routed the arches in the ends with a 3/4 cove bit that is rounded on the bottom. I was a little lazy and simply drew my half circles and hand routed then instead of making a jig. They aren't too bad and should serve their function well. The shiny plates are aluminum heat transfer plates. They will be pulled tight to one side of the groove and stapled on only one side. This allows for quiet movement when heated and cooled. They will be spaced 1/4" apart. What you see is an incomplete set up. I have to cut the final pieces and install the tubing. I was unable to finish last week as I had a conference in Victoria, BC to attend all week and I just returned. Victoria is a very nice place to visit and the weather was great, although I was in a conference during most of the daylight hours. In addition, I will be puting down hardibacker and then tiling the room in slate.

The second photo shows where the tubes will enter and exit the room. They will be run under a stairwell and through the subfloor to the crawl space for a future tie into my whole house system. I still need to cut out the sole plate to allow the tubes to be run through the wall.

This is an above the floor system radiant heat system. The remainder of my first floor will eventually be radiant heat and probably a below the floor system. This above the floor system came about because I didn't match my floor heights as close as I should have based on some bad advice I followed. I won't be activating the system in this room until I am able to ge tthe rest of the first floor up and running. Probably be a year or more as I have a several other large projects in the wings.