Porch Fitting Guidelines for the “Grosvenor” design

Thank you for purchasing one of our Redwood porches. The following guidelines are for the “GROSVENOR” design porch, but the same principals also apply to our bespoke porches.

The porch is delivered via a pallet courier on a tail lift wagon. The front truss is the most critical part of the construction, so we assemble this on the bench before delivery. The remainder of the porch comes flat packed in kit form/sections. Please note that the pallet packaging is not waterproof so you will need to keep the timber sections dry until they are treated with your choice of exterior wood finish.

The redwood will be bare timber and untreated, ready for you to apply your choice of exterior wood finish (stain or paint). We recommend you apply this before installation, to ensure all surfaces are fully protected.

It is not recommended that the posts go down into the ground. In some cases, customers build a small dwarf wall for the posts to sit on or a brick pillar. We can supply natural sandstone “staddle” stones for the post to sit on (sold separately -not included as standard). They come pre-drilled with a stainless-steel dowel inserted into them to accept the post. They can be concreted into the ground leaving around 150mm – 200mm protruding from the ground. There are 2 different sizes 150mm x 150mm or 200mm x 200mm with bevelled edges.

Once the stones are set (or the walls are built), 2 holes are knocked into the house wall to accept the other end of the wall plate (see photo on right). The left picture shows the rear stubs that can be ordered at the same time as the porch, to fix the wall plates of the porch to, instead of knocking a hole into the house. They are fixed to the house wall with rawbolts. They need to be the same distance apart as the front posts (i.e. 1500mm) NB. The rear stubs do NOT come as standard, they are sold separately and must be ordered with the porch.

You can then take an exact measurement for the length of the post. Use a level to transfer a line from the top of the stone to the house wall and then measure up to the rear stub/hole.

We supply the posts slightly over length so that they can be trimmed exactly to length on site. We can cut them to the exact length in the workshop if you can provide us with a measurement when ordering. A 19mm hole should then be drilled into the centre of the post to accept the stainless-steel dowel.

The first post can then be stood up. It is advisable to use clear silicone to set the pin into the stone and post with. It can also be used to seal the joint between the stone and the post.

The first wall plate can then be fixed into place, screwed into the top of the post. It is also advisable to glue the joint. If the rear stubs are used, the wall plates must also be screwed down onto them. Repeat on the other side, checking the levels across at all times. Cramps can be used to align the posts with the stones until the silicone sets.

The front truss is lifted and secured with screws into position.

The rear rafters are then fixed into position and into the house. I recommend 100mm x 6mm screws and plugs (not supplied)

The centre rafter can be fixed into the wall plate and to each other at the top.

The mortice slots are pre-cut for the corner braces. They are the only part that does take a little patience to fit. They are universally handed and the tenons are cut on them, but they will need a little adjustment.

The brace on the right is how we dispatch them and the one on the left has been trimmed ready for fitting.

Once fitted, they should be drilled with a 19mm bit and the short dowels tapped in.

The frame is now complete and ready for the roof covering.

If you have purchased the T&G boarding we cut a rebate to accept it in the front truss. This makes a neater finish from the front. Start at the top and fix the boards down with 50mm screws. It is vital that the boards aren’t fitted to tightly. An expansion gap at the top and bottom is critical. As in the picture the boards aren’t tight to each other.

Once boarded, it can be felted and the roof covering applied (not supplied). The porch is now all complete and ready for a top coat of your chosen exterior wood stain/paint.

If you have any queries regarding the fitting of your porch, please feel free to contact us on 01691 623737 or

Email: sales@shropshiredoorcanopies.co.uk

We welcome photographs of your finished porch!