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"  For those who live in clement climes, winter can be quite a relief, a real respite from high temps and air-conditioned isolation. But for the rest of us the season brings blessings that are more mixed. For outdoor enthusiasts, there are any number of activities that can take the edge off the long winter months. But when it comes right down to it, the driveway still has to be shoveled, the car still has to be treated with more care than many of us would like, and the lure of Sunday football games broadcast from sunny locales all serve to remind us that spring really is a better idea. It&amp;#039;s a one-way ticket outside, where the air is fresh, the sun is warm and it seems like you can accomplish just about anything before booking return passage. If you&amp;#039;re looking for a way to get outside, stay out of trouble and improve your home, all at the same time, then this year&amp;#039;s Home Improvement Guide may be for you. It includes four major projects: this massive double decker porch, a traditional stone patio and barbecue with a built-in gas grill, an eye-catching fence with a swinging gate that&amp;#039;s wide enough for your car, and some solid cedar outdoor furniture that can add style and substance to any part of your property. And even if you don&amp;#039;t tackle anything we show here, each is loaded with building tips and techniques that can stand you in good stead on any number of future projects. So, get out your tools and some of your ambition, and have at it. And don&amp;#039;t forget, after a productive summer, the cold air, your easy chair and a good game are right around the corner. Porch Foundation Make no mistake about it: This is a big project. But if you approach it methodically you should be able to wrap it up before the snow flies with enough time left over to watch the leaves change from your porch rocker.  This elevated porch was designed for a house with a full-height walk-out basement. This yielded a traditional covered porch on top and a covered play area for the kids below. But the same construction techniques apply if you want to build the porch at grade level. All you have to do is shorten the posts. Begin by laying out the location for the four foundation piers, using the drawing accompanying this article. Excavate the holes below the frost line to accommodate your foundation piers. For this job we used a plastic footing form called a Bigfoot (F&amp;amp;amp;S Manufacturing, RR#1 Chester Basin, Nova Scotia, Canada B0J 1K0) that has a 28-in.-dia. base. This is a great product because it allows you to pour the footing and pier column at the same time.   To use it, just screw a cardboard pier form to the top of the plastic funnel (Photo 1), drop it in the hole and plumb it in place, then backfill around it and pour the concrete. When the concrete is still soft, put an anchor bolt in the top of each pier to receive its post.  First Floor  Next, cut the 6 x 6 posts to length, remembering to cut each 1 in. short so the floor will be pitched away from the house for water runoff. Then, lay out the point where the anchor bolt falls in each post and bore a bolt clearance hole. Lift each post in place (Photo 2). Nail braces near the top of two adjacent post sides, then drive stakes into the ground to receive these braces. Plumb each post from both directions and nail the braces.  Next, cut the house ledger board to length and lay out the location of all the floor joists. Nail joist hangers at each layout mark, and bore bolt clearance holes in the ledger to match the locations of all the house studs or the house rim joist. Stagger these holes and make sure you have at least one every 16 in. along the length of the board. When the holes are finished, lift the ledger into place and attach it with the lagbolts and washers (Photo 3).  Build up the first floor beam in place. To do this, simply lay out the inside beam member to match the joist locations on the house ledger, nail the joist hangers in place and lift the beam member onto the posts (Photo 4). Toenail this board into the posts and then add the other two inside members in the same way. When all are nailed in place, put construction adhesive on the outside surface. Then nail plywood spacers as shown in the drawing to these beam members. Complete the beam by gluing and nailing together the other beam members.   Now, cut all the floor joists to length and lift them into the joist hangers on the ledger and the beam (Photo 5). Be sure to fill all the joist hanger holes on both sides and ends of each joist with properly sized joist hanger nails. Begin laying the floor plywood by measuring 48 in. out from the house on both ends on the deck. Snap a chalkline between these two points and then apply construction adhesive to the top edges of the joists between the house and the chalkline. Next, carefully place the tongue-and-groove plywood onto the joists with the good side up and the groove edge pointing out. Nail the first sheet every 6 to 8 in. along each joist. Then continue laying and nailing the rest of the plywood in the first course. When you&amp;#039;re done, apply construction adhesive to the top of the joists for the next course of plywood. Carefully lay the first sheet in the second row against the first sheet in the first row so the tongue and groove match up. Then tap the two sheets together using a sledgehammer and a scrap 2 x 4 along the grooved edge of the second sheet. The 2 x 4 protects the groove from being damaged by the sledge. Continue in the same manner until all the plywood is cut, driven and nailed in place. Install the trim boards around the first floor deck and the first floor posts.   We used roofing membrane between the plywood and the finished floorboards. Just install the membrane according to the package directions and then cover the membrane with floorboards, nailing through the tongue edge and into the joists below (Photo 6). If we were building this porch again, however, we would back prime the floorboards before nailing them in place. The first coat of self-priming deck enamel cupped the boards slightly, which created some minor water traps. Back priming the boards should keep them flat.  Second Floor  Once you have a coat of enamel on the floor, lay out the post positions, cut the posts to length and toenail them into place (Photo 7). Building the ceiling is nothing more than a repeat of the first floor deck.  Once you have a platform to work on, lay out the roof ridgeboard and bolt it to the house (Photo 8).    Then use a framing square to lay out a rafter pattern. Cut the pattern and then try it in several places along the ridge and the beam to make sure both ends fit well. When satisfied with the pattern, use it to trace the cut lines on all the other rafters (Photo 9).   Cut the rafters to shape and then lift each in place and nail at the birdsmouth end first (Photo 10).   Toenail the other end into the ridgeboard (Photo 11). Next nail the roof sheathing over the rafters and cover the roof sheathing with asphalt felt. This will protect the framing from rain damage. At this point, you should trim the rafter tails and the second floor posts as shown in the drawing.   Now, you need to fill in the gable end framing. Start by nailing a bottom plate along both gable ends. Then lay out and cut the gable studs to size. Toenail them into the bottom plate (Photo 12) and through the sides of the gable rafters. Cover these studs with plywood sheathing and then add the trim boards to both gable ends as shown in the drawing.  Start with the horizontal board along the bottom of each gable (Photo 13).   Then add the rake boards and finish the trim by scribing in place the vertical board next to the house (Photo 14).   Cover the exposed sheathing with building paper and nail on the siding (Photo 15).  To finish up the roof begin by installing aluminum drip edge around the entire perimeter. Then add a course of roofing membrane along the eave edge. Roll the membrane out (Photo 16), remove the backing paper and smooth the membrane onto the felt.   Begin installing the shingles by first nailing a starter strip along the eave edge (Photo 17). This strip is nothing more than a row of standard shingles turned upside down. Install the rest of the shingles, staggering the joints by half a tab as you work up the roof. Once you get to the top of the roof, you&amp;#039;ll have to install flashing between the house and the roof to make the joint watertight. We removed some house siding, and then installed a layer of membrane, followed by a row of shingles and a layer of aluminum flashing. The flashing and membrane were protected against the house with a trim board that was nailed in place over the flashing layers. All the nailheads were set and covered with silicone caulk, as was the top edge of the trim where it fit under the siding. Finishing Up  While the porch railings can be fabricated in place, it&amp;#039;s much easier to build them on sawhorses and then install them as assembled units. Begin by cutting the rails to length and width. Then rout a groove in each rail to accept the balusters (Photo 18).   Next, cut all the balusters and spacer blocks to size and nail them into the rail grooves (Photo 19). Then, spread silicone caulk along the sides of the spacer blocks and nail the colonial stop in place. When the caulk is dry, prime all the parts and lift the assemblies in place between the porch posts. Attach them to the posts at both ends of each rail with galvanized corner braces. We used beaded tongue-and-groove fir boards for both ceilings on this porch. We simply nailed them to the bottom edge of the joists using 6d finish nails driven through the tongue.   Next, install your access door into the house. We used a prehung Ever-Strait Classic steel door, model No. E-238, and a Glendale lever lockset from Pease Industries (7100 Dixie Hwy., Fairfield, OH 45014). Because we replaced a wide window with this door, our job was simplified. The existing header opening was wide enough for the door so we didn&amp;#039;t have to replace the header. We simply cut the window opening to the floor, furred out the existing framing a bit, and leaned the door in place (Photo 20).  Be sure to check for square and plumb before nailing the flanges to the framing. Trim out the outside and inside of the door to match your existing trim details and your construction is complete. Finish up by giving all the primed surfaces two topcoats of high-quality exterior paint.   "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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