My house had a cute Juliet balcony. It was quite small, one Juliet only. But water got behind the stucco and rotted the original siding and sheathing. Made it unsafe. So, off it came, and was to be rebuilt just like it was. But, that would be a simpleton’s understanding of old houses. What was discovered is that it would have to be re-engineered because it would not meet any Code requirements if it was simply rebuilt in the same way.
What it had supporting it before was corbels. A small deck with corbels. Fit the profile of the house. In an interesting twist, I suspect this particular balcony was not original to the house. I have this view because, first, under the corbels, where they fit on the house, was siding. Now, it’s possible the original builder didn’t think ahead and sided before he built the balcony, but I doubt that. Siding would be one of the very last things done on the exterior, after everything structural was already built.
Second, the way the porch was fitted to the house was inappropriate for bearing weight. It was mounted with the corbels and then had about 6″ of roof joist slotted in between the floor joists of the house. I can’t believe I ever stood on it.
Third, the corbels themselves only had one surface coating and that was the stucco. They did not appear to have been painted or covered in any manner prior to the stucco.
In any event, I wanted it rebuilt so that it would be safe, and the builder offered me two options. One was where an engineer was retained to provide instructions (in 4-6 weeks) that would make a similar corbel type balcony code-compliant. The second option was to skip the engineered corbels and use pillars instead. I went with the second option.
I can hear all the upset voices from restoration-focused readers in my head. I know. I know.
I know.
The builder told me this: He would build a ‘draft’ that could be changed once I had a look at it, and it would look fine.
I had a look at it and didn’t like it. It was just bulky and in your face. Not the feeling the previous balcony projected.
The pillars are giant and for unknown reasons, are set on the bottom step of the concrete and inset some four inches. Makes the entry unnecessarily narrow, and where am I to put the hand rail?
I hadn’t had any time to consider what a porch/balcony with pillars for a house of my vintage should look like, so didn’t know what to suggest instead. I looked across the street at the house of the same era, which has a front porch. It has elegant tapered square pillars. There’s probably a specific name for that type, but I don’t know it. But I knew the builder wouldn’t be able to give me that in short order.
So I settled on moving the pillars onto the landing and flush with the edge (but for where the ‘trim-out’ needs another ½”). It’s not perfect, but looks slightly more in tune with the house.
While I’m excited for slick new siding and having the exterior finished, I am extremely sorry that I have changed the entire exterior essence of this house. It looks like a Georgian manor, not a modest foursquare. I’d say it doesn’t fit with the street anymore, but since we have almost completely modern infill, it doesn’t matter anymore.
But, regrets, yes.
