The best seat in Peg and Jeff Kay's house isn't actually in their house.
It's the swing on their new front porch.
The Kays, who live in Manheim Township, added a spacious front porch to their 19-year-old home earlier this spring.
"It's a wonderful way to enjoy the outside and keep in touch with our neighbors," Peg Kay says. "We wanted the front porch to be the focal point of our house. It's big enough to entertain a crowd or just sit and read the paper."
The Kays are part of a building trend, says Phyllis Vail, director of marketing and communications for CertainTeed Corp., a Valley Forge-based manufacturer of building materials.
"(Front porches) are part of the 'New Urbanism' movement," she says. "New Urbanists list the ability to be closer to your neighbors, the welcoming warmth of a front porch, the aesthetics of a porch, the energy-saving benefits ... and the added living space a porch can add as some of the attractions of the front porch."
In fact, 2007 research by the National Association of Home Builders' Economics Group reports that the front porch will be a standard feature on homes by 2015.
Front porches have been a part of home design for hundreds of years. The porch offered an entryway to the home, a space to unwind after a long day and room for socializing.
"Prior to World War II, the front porch was a staple of the traditional American home," Vail says. "One reason was that before air conditioning was widespread, the porch was probably the coolest area of the home."
Once air conditioning became more common, the porch began to disappear from home construction, and the space for socializing moved as well, Vail says.
"After World War II, people moved their socializing from the front yard to the backyard, as barbecues and picnics became more popular," she says.
With the re-emergence of the front porch, homeowners have many new options for creating the perfect relaxation spot. In fact, today's front porch has really become an extension of the home.
"We call the front porch the 'American Great Room,' because it adds living space to the home that can be used in a number of ways — dining, relaxing, reading, pursuing hobbies," Vail says. "It provides the multipurpose appeal of the indoor great room."
Today's front porch also fits in well with the general construction trend of bigger homes, she says.
"Generally, today's front porches are larger, often spanning the full length of the house front," she explains. "Also, they tend to be wider — 8 to 10 feet, instead of 4 to 6 feet."
Using low-maintenance materials, like vinyl, is a popular choice in new porch construction, she says.
Using easy-care materials fits in well with other porch-construction trends, Vail says, most notably one toward sustainability.
"Products such as vinyl siding require fewer resources to manufacture and ship; reduce the environmental impact throughout the life of the home, because the need for painting and caulking is eliminated; and typically use a large percentage of recycled content to manufacture," she says.
And today's porches are anything but bland when it comes to color.
"There is a trend toward the use of multiple colors on the porch, perhaps one color for the cladding (the protective covering over a wooden post), another for the trim color, another for window accents," Vail says. "The expanding palettes of building materials allow greater flexibility and creativity in design."
Depending on the type of material used and the details in the design, a new porch can range in cost from $25,000 to $40,000, says Bill Patrick, president and senior designer for William J. Patrick Inc., the Lancaster-based remodeler who built the Kays' porch.
The porch offered a way to make the Kays' house stand out in the neighborhood.
From its green metal roof to its classic porch swing, the porch has drastically changed the look of the home, says Patrick.
"The home is a late-'80s two-story Colonial, with an undersized covered entry that had very little distinction from the others built (in the neighborhood)," he says. "The porch has really changed the curb appeal of the home."
It's also made the Kays want to stay home as much as possible.
"We're so happy with how it turned out," Peg says. "We've spent lots of time talking to people about it while the building of the addition has been taking place.
"It's generated so much interest that we've decided to invite all our neighbors over for a porch christening when the weather gets warmer."
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