Finished porch

Finally finished the porch (only the metal roofing covers remain). The porch serves the practical purpose of preventing water from dripping on your head as you exit the door (or worse, getting walloped with snow sliding off the roof), keeping the summer sun from overheating the house, and giving you a nice place to sit, rain or shine. The ends of the porch are flat so that you can leave the porch without getting dripped on the rain.

We went with 6x6 posts which aren't from our woods. I thought we could use 4x4 posts as we have with our current balcony, so I sawed up a bunch of those last summer. However, Will recommended 6x6 posts. Thinking about snow sliding onto the porch from our rather large roof
convinced me to go witht the more solid 6x6 posts. The rest of the porch is straight out of the back of the property. It's hard to see in these pictures, but the wood is unplaned and unsanded. If you click on the imagery, you can see the rough texture. My philosophy on porches is that sitting on them should make you feel like you are in a farm in a western (one with good carpenters). We will eventually sand the floor planks once the project is complete and people are done trekking dirt and construction boots across it. We'll probably seal it to protect it from rain, snow, and sun. Hemlock is somewhat resistant to rot, but it is a soft wood and prone to scuffs.

Here's a detail of the timber ends showing how the rafter rests on the rafter plate . The roof actually overhangs the rafter plate, which in turn overhangs the last post resting on the deck. Also visible are the 1'' planks that act both as roof and ceiling. I thought I'd sand these, but others say they like them rough sawed. Great! Less work!