Originally Posted by dlssmith

The egress threshold on to the porch is about 20 inches above the roof. There is plenty of room to build a deck fully joisted. I would attach it to the house and then it would rest on the flat roof at either two or three points, which are where the columns are that transfer the load to the ground.

Judging from the condition of the thing, I don't think this flat roof has leaked much since it was built in 1918. It probably had a tin coating and a lot of blackjack on the joints. Now it's just rolled roofing with black jack, which doesn't leak either - and that's been on for at least 15 years without any maintenence. Go figure.

I can spend what I want on this, it's just not that big. However, I want to be able to walk on it, so a railing is required. And, asthetically, it's important to the look of the house.