Carpentry and Woodworking - Moving Exterior Wall

I have a wood frame house on blocks with vinyl siding built in '60. I'm interested in enclosing the front porch to increase the living area of the home. I will probably hire a contractor, but would like some information about what this project will entail and how difficult it will be. I have a footprint of the home if necessary. Any input will be helpful. Thank you.

You say you want to enclose the front porch, without seeing the house it is probably safe to say that would not be a big deal.

But you also say you want to move an exterior wall. What exactly do you mean by moving exterior wall? If you are just going to leave the wall in place (maybe make some cosmetic changes) and frame in the porch it probably isn't a big deal. If you actually want to remove part of an exterior wall, you really need to talk to a contractor or engineer that can look at the house and tell you how much of a pain in the tail it will be.

Moving a load-bearing wall means that the load must be supported in some other way. Adding a wall to enclose a porch that is already supported is a fairly simple matter.
There are 2 questions to consider:
a) what's the budget for these wall relocation projects?
b) once you accomplish these changes on a 40-year-old house, would you ever retrieve the investment in the sale of the house? Is the land it is on really that valuable?

Thank you for your responses. It was misleading for me to say that I want to "enclose the porch". I would like to incorporate the area that is now a covered porch into the living room area. This would mean moving an existing wall out about 3'. The roof line would not have to change.

Answers to your questions:
1) I have about 5-8K that I would consider investing into this. There is other work that I would like to do as well, and increasing the living area by 50 sq. ft. will probably not take priority.
2) ROI is a big question in my mind. I think that my location is pretty valuable, but most of the homes in the area are newly constructed in the last 8 years and I am one of a few older homes. How could I determine the ROI of this type of project?

I would suggest that you talk to a couple of contractors who can actually see your house and what you have in mind. Since you're dealing with the exterior walls, don't be surprised if your $5k - $8k budget gets used up in a hurry - there may be LOTS of structural issues to deal with to make this work right. :eek:

There are several approaches to determining ROI.

1. Your local appraisal district can tell you whether the project will increase your appraisal, which it likely will. An open porch usually does not add to your computed square footage for tax purposes, whereas an enclosed porch that is heated/cooled does add to the square footage. For instance, a porch 3 x 20 @ $50 = $3,000.

2. A realtor could help you estimate an asking price for the finished product. Unless the present living room is quite small, adding 3' in one direction will not likely be a strong selling point.

Since this project only enlarges an existing room by a modest amount, it will likely represent value only to you while you live there. A buyer will clearly note that it was done later. The most that it would be worth to them would be the $3000; not close to what you will have to pay to have it done.