https://www.reddit.com/r/Minneapolis/comments/1igfn5b/houses_missing_porches_why/
created by darklight001 on 03/02/2025 at 03:20 UTC
0 upvotes, 25 top-level comments (showing 25)
I’m looking at homes in your great city (and surrounding) and I see so many homes which have a walkout basement, and on the main floor, a sliding glass door that opens to nothingness. Usually you’d have a porch there.
So I am asking, why? Do you take the porch with you when you move? Is it BYOP (bring your own porch)? Or do porches collapse frequently?
Comment by Prairiefan at 03/02/2025 at 03:26 UTC
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Do you mean a sliding glass door with no deck? If so, I always assume the deck costs extra on these developments…and decks are expensive.
Comment by Practically_Hip at 03/02/2025 at 04:05 UTC
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Call them decks here. Porches are on the front of houses (if they have them).
Comment by Loring at 03/02/2025 at 03:28 UTC
1 upvotes, 3 direct replies
So you're saying there's a lot of houses with a sliding glass door and then a 6 ft drop into the backyard?
Comment by Rxpert83 at 03/02/2025 at 03:29 UTC
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Cheaper for the developer to leave them off the build, and the new homeowner never puts it on due to cost
Comment by Jhamin1 at 03/02/2025 at 03:30 UTC*
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
If its a new house, the builder often simply doesn't build the Porch as its something some homeowners like to do for themselves. It saves a bit of money and leaves the choice of design up to whoever is buying it.
OR: The old Porch decayed due to lack of maintenance. Its a bad idea to sell a house with a dangerous porch on it (liability reasons) so they simply remove it and don't replace it. Again, the new buyer can go with the design they want and the cost of building the deck is probably more than how much you lose by not having one at all.
Its a thing with home improvements that they can make your house more appealing when selling, but 95% of the time the amount you spend on the improvement is less than the amount it increases the value of your house. So in a sellers market, like this one, its a good idea to get it saleable with the minimum possible investment All those fancy kitchen remodels "so we can sell it for more" pretty much never pay for themselves.
Thus, sellers simply remove their old rotten porches & leave it to the buyers to replace them.
Comment by SurelyFurious at 03/02/2025 at 05:01 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
You’re def referring to suburban homes, and we call them decks. Posting in r/TwinCities would be more relevant
Comment by JustAnotherPolyGuy at 03/02/2025 at 03:25 UTC
1 upvotes, 2 direct replies
Not in Minneapolis you aren’t. Out in the sticks. But that’s a track home thing.
Comment by lovely_ginger at 03/02/2025 at 03:45 UTC
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Note: this sub is for Minneapolis proper; this is not the type of house you’d typically see in the city. It’s more a suburban style home, so subs like r/TwinCities may get you better responses.
That said, those style homes are built in developments where buyers are choosing from a list of available floor plans and add-ons. So, these buyers want the style of house that has a deck, but they don’t have the budget to include one at time of initial build.
Comment by ladybasecamp at 03/02/2025 at 03:37 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
My brother lives in GA, was initially quoted 18K for replacing a raised deck in 2019. He lives in a townhome and this would hang over the garage, the living room is on the second floor. He declined due to cost but ended up changing his mind in 2023. Cost him nearly 30K.
Comment by bwillpaw at 03/02/2025 at 04:50 UTC*
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Uh that's pretty weird in Minneapolis. Most of Minneapolis housing stock is old as fuck so you would not see that and it's actually pretty weird to even see a full second level house in mpls in general, with a deck build even weirder because that just didn't exist 100ish years ago.
You do see it in suburban developments where the house build included a sliding door but no deck/ pay for that yourself and then people are underwater in their mortgage and just don't build it so you literally end up with 40+ year old houses with sliding doors with no decks. I would not buy such a house because if that homeowner couldn't afford to build a deck for 40 years or more they also probably didn't fix a lot of other shit and you're buying a fucking piece of shit house that has had zero maintenance since it was built in 1985 or whatever.
If this is actually in Minneapolis then it's someone who attempted to add a deck at some point and failed for whatever reason. Have fun with the permits and spending like $25k or more on a second level deck. So just factor that into the purchase price and be prepared to potentially be denied by the city to put a second level deck in for some reason.
Comment by BookiesAndCookies22 at 03/02/2025 at 03:37 UTC
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
byop, im dead.
Comment by PeculiarExcuse at 03/02/2025 at 04:09 UTC
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Comment by AmosRid at 03/02/2025 at 04:27 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I did NOT get the deck (or sunroom) from my builder and have main floor patio doors to nowhere. It was too expensive and no options. Will do down the road…or never.
FWIW, there are a million options on decks and companies that specialize on adding decks. It really takes a lot of research and time evaluating vendors, materials, features, etc.
Many families I know that got decks with their homes do not like them. Alternatively, families that did (or re-did) custom decks are much happier with them.
Doing wood or maintenance-free is controversial among men who drink Bud Light, wear cargo shorts and have a riding mower…
Comment by SloeMoe at 03/02/2025 at 05:03 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
What are you on about? I'd be shocked if even one percent of houses in Minneapolis had walkout basements and sliding doors. Every house on my block is a normal first-floor entrance with a porch.
Comment by msanachronistic at 03/02/2025 at 15:01 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
In Minneapolis? This sounds like a suburbs thing where all the houses are the same
Comment by Extra_Ear_2270 at 03/02/2025 at 03:25 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Wood expensive.
Comment by hello_world45 at 03/02/2025 at 03:27 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I assume you are just talking about a regular deck since that is most common here. In general, the home builders don't build them as part of the house. Many people don't add them later due to the cost. In general, the simplest deck I can build as a GC in MN starts at 10k. A lot end up around 20k, which is not worth it to many people. If you are talking about an enclosed porch they cost even more so even fewer people do them. The weather or bugs are not bad enough for most people to spend probably double building one vs a deck.
Comment by Scotty_Bravo at 03/02/2025 at 03:55 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Neighbor has an older home. The deck was rotted out. He tore it down intending to replace it. Hasn't yet.
Comment by Visible_Leg_2222 at 03/02/2025 at 06:55 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
West st. paul is a great area with lots of deck houses!! however covered porches not so much.
Comment by Ravenmn at 03/02/2025 at 13:19 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Our family calls them "deck-less wonders" and they are quite common in new-build communities. People either can't afford them or haven't decided on the style they want and intend to add them later. We started noticing them about 15 years ago.
Comment by Formal_Lie_713 at 03/02/2025 at 13:28 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I heard somewhere that having a deck can increase your property taxes. I don’t know if that’s true.
The lack of porches might have to do with the cold weather. I’m assuming that porches and decks need frost footings so they don’t heave when the ground freezes.
Comment by These_Hair_193 at 03/02/2025 at 14:37 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
People who built their houses couldn't afford to add decks later.
Comment by rileyjamesdoggo at 03/02/2025 at 17:37 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
My uncle noticed this too when visiting from Iowa. My new build house in Chaska,MN did not come with a back deck.
He thought it was an insurance nightmare, in Iowa you have to put in something if a door is above 2ft off the ground.
I do understand others comments that it gives the owner the option to decide how much to spend.
Comment by suprasternaincognito at 03/02/2025 at 15:07 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
When we bought our home, we specifically requested a door that opens into the seventh dimension. It’s a feature not a bug and I’d appreciate you keeping your criticism to yourself. (Or out the door you go.)
Comment by uglyugly1 at 03/02/2025 at 03:48 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
They were stolen.