Deciding what to do with this old porch
The first two photos show an old beam above the windows that appears to be sagging in the middle. The second photo shows how there is no foundational support in the middle of the porch. I’m thinking I’m going to need to add a new pier in the center of the porch and then run a full length 4x4 at minimum to the beam supporting the roof.
Photos 3, 4, and 5 show the left side of the porch. It appears to have minimal settling based on the interior picture. I’m trying to decide if I should jack it up .25 inches and flip that cinder block or throw in a solid block or if it’s not worth the risk.
Photos 6, 7, and 8 show the right side of the porch with significant settling shown where the siding seems have extra space between them and the single pane window frames coming apart. The soil under the porch is pretty wet, and I’m going to install gutters, but I want to go in the order of foundation, porch wall framing, new roof then gutters. I’m trying to decide if I should just try to stop it from settling further by adding an extra pier or 2, bracing and gutters, or if I should jack it up a bit before I do all of that.
Photos 9 and 10 show a couple extra small braces on small pads that hold up the porch skirting and the bottom of the wall and windows, but not the roof, at least not more than the beam has sagged and pushed the skirting into the dirt a bit.
Photo 11 is where things get tricky and you can see it a little bit with photo 4. It appears as though when the porch is settling that the mid point in the wall where the windows sit on the ledge is pushing out in the middle. I’m almost wondering if they were crazy enough to not use full length 4x4s/etc to hold up the corners and that’s why it appears to be coming apart like that or if the 4x4s (or whatever is supporting each corner) could actually be warped.
Long story short, this is a $95,000 house and the homeowner doesn’t want to spend a ton of money on this porch. I would just rip out all the windows and put a 4x4 and angle bracing on the corners and the center, but then the rain water might get into the porch, get through the floor, and cause more settling and other problems. I’ve seen some people with open air porches that didn’t have skirting or walls, and I could go that route for the homeowner, really I’m looking for an affordable option that would help increase the life of the porch and stop it from separating from the house eventually or collapsing. I could always tear off the porch but then we are looking at siding and other issues.
I would love recommendations and ideas on what I should do here.
Thanks!