Journal: August 17. Disappearing Porch

Lots of porch activity today.  Complete demolition of flooring.  I do not participate--George, John and Chris all working, though George comes downstairs with questions at regular intervals.

The porch is a serious trouble zone.  It was never built properly, and never repaired well.  Water runs underneath it into the foundation of the house and the kitchen.

Right now, because it's been collapsing for years, and especially today, when there is no porch at all, the window over the sink is actually letting in light.  Usually, there is next to no light in the kitchen.  It is one loony and unattractive room.

Floorless porch with petunias and oil tank

The ultimate plan (as if we have an ultimate plan) is to move the kitchen upstairs to the back parlor.  We haven't figured out how we'll configure the downstairs, but it will, I am sure, be completely amazing.  But for the moment we have to think a bit about this kitchen.  At one point, long ago, George had suggested that we could perhaps leave a channel of sorts under the porch that would let some light in.  Today we decided that wouldn't really work.  The best way to keep moisture out and tighten up the house would be to have the porch more or less filled in (I think). 
In the long run this is fine, as the kitchen won't be the kitchen, but for the short run,  I'll miss those little spots of light.

We also have to figure out what to do with the oil tank.  It's now at the far end of the porch.  It was under the flooring. Should we keep it there?  Move it outside next to the propane?  Move it downstairs.  Pros and cons for each option--nothing incredibly compelling or awful.  Looks like we can't really manage completely without oil, even if we do lots of wood burning, solar power, etc.

Getting the beam up, which completely straightened the roof, and pulling out all that rotten porch wood does make it feel like we are beginning to revive the house. Very excellent, all of it.