If you would like to add a roof to your front porch or even another area it can be done in about nine steps. Take a look at those steps here in this article. Some tools you will need are; hammer, shovel, concrete forms, masonry bit, drill motor, nails, concrete, measuring tape, roofing paper and roofing nails, plywood, gutters, front board, custom trusses, bolts with washers and nuts, post anchors and lumber.




1) Plan out the dimensions of your roof by marking where the posts will go. You should have a post at every corner of the roof and also for every ten feet of length of the roof.



2) If your porch is made of wood you will need to remove a few parts of the porch. The posts of the new roof will go through the corners and into the ground. This means pouring concrete for the posts where they go into the ground. You will need a hole for the six by six wood and its concrete that is a minimum of eighteen inches in depth and ten inches wide. Use something to tighten up the loose soil at the bottom of the hole. A six by six piece of lumber works well for this job. Use concrete forms that are shaped like cylinders when you are through digging and tamping the soil. If you can get six by six wood that is long enough to reach from the bottom of the hole you dug to the rafters of the roof, then insert the six by six into the ground before you pour the concrete in. Make sure the six by sixes are vertically straight by using a level on the sides. If you are just having the posts lay on top of the concrete, go ahead and fill the forms with the concrete.




3) If your porch is made of concrete drill a hole in the concrete at the center of the spot where each post will be going. Use anchors for the posts over the holes you made and connect by using expanding bolts in the holes. Install the six by six posts into the anchors. Gusset the posts with two by fours.



4) Next, cut the two by ten inch lumber for the double roof beams. Cut them the exact length of the distance of the outside edges of posts. You are measuring across, and not from front to back.




5) Raise the beams on both sides of the posts. Put a few nails in the beams to attach the beams during the interim when you will be attaching them permanently. Make sure the beams are even with the top of the posts and the outer edges. Now attach the beams to the posts by putting a three eighth inch bolt through the beams and into the posts. Do not forget to use washers and nuts on the bolts.



6) Put the truss on the end posts. Make it fit across the top of the posts completely. It should also be even on the posts just like the last step. It should be positioned on both sets of beams. Install the rest of the trusses the same way. Nail these to the beams on either side. Put a nail in every two feet.



7) Next is the decking. It should be five eighths in width and made of plywood. Nail these to the trusses.



8) Install the roofing paper over the decking. It should be fifteen pound roofing felt. Put this on with roofing nails.



9) Install a gutter or rail to catch the rain and then install the shingles to the entire roof. Put a board on the front to cover the front edge and to keep rain off the porch. Paint or stain all exposed wood in your choice of colors. You are done.