Two months and about £2,000 later we have a porch. It's still standing,
and it doesn't seem to let in water even in torrential rain. So I guess
that counts as a result. The exterior still needs to be rendered, but
there's no hurry, and that can be done when the weather improves.
Like many of the projects I undertake, I'm not entirely sure I would have
started this one if I had known at the outset how much work would be
involved. But I say that every time, so I ought to have learned my
lesson by now. As always, I seem to find myself starting jobs like
this in the last throws of Autumn, and there's a rush to get them
finished before Winter sets in properly. There's no doubt that a job
like this would have been easier, more pleasant, and less stressful if
started in June than at the end of October. But it's when Winter is
approaching that you realize that you need a porch -- it's not so
obvious in Summer.