PORCH PROJECT - complete disassembly

Yesterday I took the rest of the porch to pieces. Most of the decking was secured only by a single nail up next to the house wall so it came off easily until I got to the section by the door, which was newer wood - not tongue-in-groove decking but plain pine - and nailed excessively. This was the rottenest wood, right by the front door, because it was the wrong kind of wood for the job. Look how the cinder blocks hang over the inside edge. Some of them were actually teetering on the uneven concrete. Also note how the end of the long stringer at the bottom right is sitting on a little block of wood. Most of the older boards were not nailed to that stringer at all. I suspect those parts were re-used from the original porch when it was stupidly rebuilt.

I found to my surprise that 16 foot long rough cut 2x4 you see going all the way across the front of the house at the bottom of the yellow siding was nailed to the ends of the joists for the floor of the house and when removed it gave access directly to the basement. The piece of wood crossing the space from left to right was the center support for the stringers that ran the width of the porch.
A shot of the other end of the intricate support system. I admit I knocked that block askew a little. The end of the crosspiece where it is set into the concrete at upper left was completely rotted away.
I'm sorry to report that this was the most interesting thing I found in there - a section of the framing from when they poured the porch foundation. That upright piece was stuck about three inches into a flow of concrete that must have leaked out. I chipped around it for a while with a cold chisel and when I got tired of whacking my hand with my U.S. GOVT. issue 5 pound ball peen demolition hammer, I just started whacking it away from the side of the foundation until it finally came out. You can see right down into the basement through that opening on the right. That is the end of a floor joist that runs all the way across the underside of the living room, on the far right of the picture.
Cleared away and cleaned up, with the opening to the basement covered up by some of the siding from the porch rail.
This is what a former porch looks like. Those 16' stringers are a little naily on top but still mostly in good shape. At the very least they would burn like crazy, having aged for 80 years or so. I started some time in the afternoon and worked about three hours. I know when I start hurting myself and knocking things over it is time to do something safe like sorting and stacking the wood. Plenty of free cinder blocks - you haul.