The Joy of Building

When you want a stylish porch added to the front of your home, it can be exciting to hire a local porch builder and begin to discuss some designs. There are many things to figure out, including the square footage of this addition to your home's exterior. One topic to discuss is what material you want for the floor of your porch. There are all sorts of materials that can work well, so you'll need to consider how you want the structure to look and what materials will be a good visual fit with the exterior of your residence. Here are three flooring options that you may want on your porch. 

Wooden Planks

Wooden planks are a popular flooring option for residential porches. There's a good chance that your builder will use wood in multiple areas around the porch, including for the posts, railings, and steps. Given the use of wood in these applications, having wooden planks on the floor of the structure will work well visually. You can also finish the wood in many different ways. For example, you might opt to stain it to allow its natural grain and knots to show through, or maybe you prefer to paint it in a color that complements the front of the home.

Concrete

Another option to consider is having a concrete slab that makes up the floor of your front porch. The weight of this material means that the porch will need to be built more strongly than if you were to use wooden planks, but you might like the idea because you can expect that the porch will last indefinitely. Concrete provides a solid feeling beneath your feet. It won't creak like wooden planks, and you won't have to worry about dropping something small and having it fall through a gap.

Natural Stone

You may wish to consider using natural stone as the floor of your new porch. It's possible to buy thin pieces of natural stone that can give any area a rustic feel. One idea is to choose stones that are a close match to the stones that you may have in your front walkway, as this can pull these two areas together visually. Natural stones are available in many sizes, shapes, and colors, so you can browse what products are available and find something that will work well in this outdoor space. To discuss each of these floor options and other ideas, contact a porch builder in your area.