Here's our starting point: a plain, ordinary window. Even as a window, there's not much to say about it... save that there's probably something more useful that could be taking up the family room wall, the wall which from the exterior of the home borders the back yard. In fact, a patio door accessing the back yard would be ideal. After checking over details of the home's construction, we know that we can safely enlarge the opening in this wall to accommodate a new door installation. So the first step is to carefully prepare and then knock out the wall. Once a large enough opening has been made, we can install our patio door.

With our opening framed and prepared, we installed a new sliding patio door. One panel is stationary, while the other slides and functions as the actual door. (In any case, the large size of both glass panels makes for a very hefty view improvement over the old window!) As this door is not meant as a prime means of entry, the homeowners have selected a model with no exterior lockset; rather, the door locks only from the inside. The exterior metal surfaces of the patio door are trimmed in white to match the home's exterior, and the outer door frame has been cased with white aluminum as well. The interior surfaces of the door can be ordered to have a woodgrain type surface, paintable or stainable to blend with a room's interior. Another option with many patio doors - though one not taken with this installation - is to have blinds installed directly between the glass of the door panel, which can the be drawn and/or angled via a control on the inside of the door. However, you may by now have noticed the one most immediate concern with this installation: our door's threshold sits over two feet off the ground! That makes for an awfully big step... something needs to be done about that. The tall wooden beams you see in the picture show the start of our solution. For the next step of our project, we're installing a small porch and stairway to access our new patio door.

The tall wooden beams seen in the previous photo have now been cut down to a more manageable height, and will serve as the primary support for our new porch. That grey dust you see at the visible base of each of the poles is cement. The poles have been sunk into the ground at a depth of several feet, and the openings have been filled with a cement-based packing mixture to ensure long lasting strength and stability. During the construction of the porch and stairs, we'll also be using long deck screws rather than nails, again to ensure long lasting strength and stability for the structure. The horizontal bars which you see attached to the support beams will serve as part of the support base for the platform upon which the porch deck will rest (the deck itself will be a few inches higher).

The stair stringers are now up, and our new porch is beginning to take recognizable shape. Atop the stringers we've already screwed down the stairs, but not before preparing the posts which will become the lower support for the stair railings we'll be installing later. You can also see that we've made the final preparations for the porch deck; all that's left to do there is to lay the slats for the deck itself, which will come to a height nearly equal to the threshold of the patio doors.

The porch deck has been put into place; now it's time to dress it up. To compliment the pre-existing property line fence, we've opted for an open slat style skirt and rail system. Also to compliment the fence, the rail support posts will be topped with pointed caps which match as closely with those atop the fence posts as possible. Once all of the support posts are in place, we're ready to start putting the slats into position. By the time we're done, the only way you'll be able to tell that the porch and fence weren't built together will be by the amount of weathering the fence has already taken to its finish.

When the sawdust and tools are cleared away, it's hard to believe this used to be nothing more than a window sitting in the middle of a whole lot of wall. The new patio door gives the home's occupants easy access to the back yard, and the new porch assures the their first step out that new door won't turn out to be a lulu. As promised, the porch rails compliment the design of the property line fence very well, and the wooden deck is now ready to be painted or finished in whatever manner the homeowners desire. The screen panel of the patio door also provides a welcome breeze in the summer heat, and also allows for hints of what's cooking on the backyard grill... Anyone for barbecue?