Building A New Brick Porch

Jerry1122

I have an old concrete porch (about 5' x 5') with one step. The house was built in the fifties and I assume this is the age of the porch. The porch has reached it life end. The step is cracking, the top is cracking and crumbling and the foundation blocks are cracked as well.

I would like to demo the whole thing and replace it with a new brick porch. Can a DIY handle this? Any idea on what the cost would be to have it done?

Thanks

Jerry

47_47

Welcome Jerry,

Depending on the porch and your skill set, this could be a DIY project. They way I start a new unfamiliar project is to read up and ask friends on what is entailed with the job. Evaluate if this is something you are comfortable and capable of doing. For example, I can hang and mud drywall, but during my family room remodel, I paid a contractor to do the work. He brought in the sheets, hung them, taped, primed the walls and left a broom clean area. The contractor was done in one week. The job would have taken us two weekends to hang and another 1-2 weeks to tape, mud, sand and paint.
Use your time and efforts wisely by doing what you can to save and hire out the more demanding tasks.
Costs are only accurately gotten by having three local, reputable, licensed contractors in your area give you estimates.
Good luck

__________________
What we've got here is... failure to communicate. Some men you just can't reach. So you get what we had here last week, which is the way he wants it... well, he gets it.

Jerry1122

Thanks. Unfortunitly I've been searching online for days and haven't found much usable information until I found this site. I can't get anyone to come out to look at what I've got. Either everyone is too busy or too sorry, I can't tell which.

I think I'm very compitent so if I just had some input I think I can do it.

gregt848

I think that if you do your research, take your time, and ask questions you can do almost anything. Like the previous replier, it just might take you longer. I tend to be a perfectionist, so if something is not up to my standards, I will redo it. That takes additional time too, but the end result always looks close to like a pro does it. Definitely start by looking through books at the local book store, you will learn so much from them. What you don't get right away or to go into more detail ask here. If you are going to get a permit, the building department will tell what is required and that is beneficial too.