Rehabilitate Quarters 1 Back Porch

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George Washington Birthplace National Monument proposes to rehabilitate the enclosed back porch of Quarters 1 due to safety concerns. The home was built in 1932 and is a contributing structure within the George Washington Birthplace National Monument Historic District. The back porch is original to the house but much of the exterior materials creating the enclosed porch were installed in 1999. The porch walls have deteriorated due to water infiltration around the windows and aluminum flashing. The support walls are compromised and need to be reconstructed using new wood 2x4 studs. A couple of area porch flooring is damaged next to the exterior wall. The project is needed to prevent the porch from potential collapse.

The existing porch has a shed roof attached to the back of the main house structure. It's stick framed with common 2x4 wood studs. The exterior is covered with vinyl siding installed over pressboard fiber siding. The porch walls are lined with aluminum storm windows on all three sides and one aluminum storm door. Interior wall surface is covered with ½-inch plywood and painted white. The porch floor joist is constructed with 2x8 common lumber and has 1x3 tongue and groove porch boards. ½-inch plywood is installed over all the tongue groove floorboards and is covered with vinyl sheet flooring.

The project includes keeping the existing roof structure in-place throughout the entire project by installing a temporary support system to hold up the roof. The deteriorated wood framed walls will be removed along with the non-historic vinyl siding and aluminum storm windows. Areas on floor joist will be repaired with in-kind wood framing material.

New walls will be framed with in-kind common 2x4 lumber, insulated and ½-inch plywood will be installed for the interior surface and painted white. New energy efficient six over six lite double-hung windows will replace the existing aluminum storm windows. The new windows will be different than the home's original wood double-hung windows. New 8-inch tapered lap wood siding will be installed on the exterior of the walls directly under the windows. The siding will be painted white.

The proposed project work will eliminate the safety concerns, prevent any more water infiltration into the building, improve energy efficiency and will allow the porch to be used all year long. The rehabilitation work to the porch structure will not mimic the historic elements of the house. No ground disturbance is associated with this project, however the area has previously been subjected to a full Phase I survey.

Contact Information

Kerry S. Gonzalez
804-761-2780