adding a deck and porch

[Vickie]

We want to add a deck the whole width of our home and possibly screen this in - have had one person come look and he didn't even know where to begin.

Also want to add a porch onto the front - not sure if any of this can be done and if so where do we start.

Anybody know any good resources to get some better ideas about porches and decks for manufactured housing.

[Pat]

Vicky, I'm no expert, but what I've read says you should not connect these things directly to your home. They should be stand alones up next to your house. The explanation I was given is that it adds stress to your home as homes can shift slightly over time. So considering that, I don't know why a carpenter would have difficulty with doing a deck, or porch for that matter. Maybe someone else knows more than I do but that's what I have read elsewhere and been told. Pat

[Tracy]

Pat's right about not attaching it to the house. It needs its own foundation blocks to sit on. if you attach it to the house, the house will be put under stresses that it wasn't built to handle. This gets even worse when you add a roof, and then it snows and the roof can't handle the weight of the new section AND the snow.

You can go ahead and build whatever you want onto the home, just make sure it stands up on its own!

Tracy