Currently I have a covered front porch that is 4' deep by 16' long. It extends another 10' in the opposite direction to cover the entrance to my garage as well. As it sits I cannot use the space as it is just too narrow to have chairs or anything on it. I'd like to extend my existing porch out to 8' so that I have a more usable space. I do not plan to adjust the current roof structure, but I would like to eliminate the post in middle of the 16' porch area. This will leave me with an 8'x16' porch covered by a 4'x16' roof.Currently the roof of the porch has a 4x6 beam with 3 4x4 posts that supports the roof. The span between the post and the garage is 10' and the 16' span is split by another 4x4 post which I would like to eliminate. I know a 4x6 cannot span 16' so I am looking for ideas to accomplish this. From what I have read a 4x6 can span a bit more than 10'. The best I have come up with so far is knee braces but they would need to be set in 3' on either side to get to my 10' number, which I think would look odd. My other option would be to bump up to a 4x10, but with a 4x6 already in place between my front door and garage I am not even sure how I would make that work? Would I have to notch out the 4x4 post that the 4x6 and 4x10 beams would rest on? via /r/DIY http://ift.tt/2Ez7WES
