There are few elements of architecture as infused with Southern style as the porch. And not just a little covered entranceway: A true Southern porch has room for more than a few rockers, a table or two, potted plants and maybe a swing. It’s the ideal spot for catching a summer night’s breeze while waving to the neighbors going by. And it serves a practical purpose as well.
"A front porch performs a functional role by providing a space out of the weather while you're waiting to go inside," said Brad Cruickshank, a certified remodeler who started his Midtown-based firm, Cruickshank, Inc., in 1988. "It also provides protection for the front door; without it, it's apt to rot and warp. So it's nice to have that protection for a door just as it is for guests waiting to be greeted."
Buyers and homeowners alike are drawn not just to front porches, but ones that are in the back of the house, screened-in, wrapping around or spanning two stories. With the South’s long stretches of mild weather, these outdoor areas easily become living spaces that are usable most of the year. And when that space is screened-in, it becomes even more popular.
"After every screened-in porch I've ever built, people tell me it's their favorite room in the house," said Walter Lewis, president of Neighbors Home Remodeling in Roswell. "The screens cut down on a lot of the bug problems we have in the South. So people can use that space a lot."
Both Cruickshank and Lewis work on projects that add porches to houses that don’t have them. In one case, Lewis said the owner of a typically traditional brick two-story wanted a front porch just for that Southern flair. “A front porch can substantially change the look of a house so it won’t look like New England in the South,” said Lewis.
While the sidewalks of many historic intown communities are lined with cottages, bungalows and Victorian designs that incorporate a prominent porch, the feature also holds a particular appeal for people who live a bit father outside the city limits.
“In more rural areas, there are always people sitting out on their front porches,” said Lewis. “It’s kind of a Southern thing.”
That idea fits the experience of Ginny Bryant, director of sales and marketing for Lennar Homes, who says the company’s new-home buyers in farther-out regions of Cherokee, west Cobb and Forsyth are crazy for porches.
“I think a lot of it has to do with the larger home sites,” said Bryant. “For instance, the west Cobb market is a bit more rural with larger sites than east Cobb, and buyers there prefer a nice front porch that is truly functional, not just a few feet of covered space to give an architectural look.”
Exterior designs in Lennar communities such as Westpark and Belmont in Cobb, Mountain Creek Estates in Cherokee, Shiloh Woods in Cumming and even the company’s new 3-story townhouses in Alpharetta and Kennesaw, incorporate front porches. Many plans also have back porches that increase the usable living space.
Covered front and rear porches are among the key selling points for buyers at Olde Town Grayson, a 55-and-older active adult community in Gwinnett. Each of the community’s 111 single-family brick ranches and attached villas, priced from the low $200,000s, includes them.
“These are functional porches, and the front ones even have brick floors and bead-board ceilings,” said Meg Thompson, sales and marketing manager for Olde Town’s developer, Blue River Communities. “You see every house has two chairs or a loveseat on the porch, and people decorate them with flowerpots and ferns. Sitting on their porches as the neighbors walk by is one of the main ways they communicate. They shout out hello from the sidewalk and stop to chat and catch up. It’s turned out that the porches are an integral part of what’s created the community. It’s not just a desirable amenity; it’s a way to get to know your neighbors.”
Rear porches at Olde Town are nestled into the design of the houses, so they’re private. The floors are concrete, and the ceilings are bead board. “On Saturdays, you can just smell the grills going back there,” said Thompson with a laugh. “It’s also possible to have a screened porch as an option, and that makes it even more liveable.”
Houses that don’t have a porch as an amenity can usually have one added without too much major rebuilding, said Lewis, who estimates an average porch with a composite floor can run between $7,000 and $10,000.
“What makes them expensive is the roof system,” he said. “Adding that is not cheap. The type of material for the floor can also add to the cost. A lot of people now are going with composite materials, and they do cost quite a bit more than pressure-treated wood. On the other hand, they last forever and are low maintenance.”
The important part of adding a porch is creating an accent that adds to the existing home instead of looking out of place.
“Often a house is enhanced by a porch when we continue with the theme that’s already established,” said Cruickshank, who recently finished a project that mimicked the brick of the existing house and added a copper roof accent. “Our goal is to make it look like our work was always there, so matching the brick and paying attention to the detailing is very important. We want to make it better than what was - or wasn’t - there before.”
Just how much time homeowners spend relaxing on their porches is anyone’s guess, but that doesn’t diminish the romantic interest most people have for owning one.
“There’s been a lot of renewed interest in the ‘new urbanism’ that uses porches to create a nice transition between the street a home’s entry,” said Cruickshank. “But I think more people are just captivated by the historical reference of sitting out on the porch and chatting with neighbors as they stroll by. It’s a Southern thing.”
