Topic: I need help

[bestofour]

We are extending our front porch.  It's concrete.  The portion we have now has been etched, somehow, and it looks like there are squares in the concrete.  How do I do this?  I've looked online for templates and they are expensive and I can't imagine the people who built this house went that route.  If I can somehow make my own template how do I pick it up and move it without messing up the concrete?

[bayou girl]

Sheri, a friend of miine did this, i will ask her tomorrow.

[Jim]

Can you take a pic of what the etching looks like and post it?

[bayou girl]

Sheri, my friend's husband did his by marking the concrete with a t-square (he wanted it in squares) and then using a power saw with a diamond blade.  she said it was time consuming and messy, but they did a whole house, not just a porch.

[bestofour]

Jim, it doesn't show up too well.  It looks as if ceramic tiles, 6 x 6, were laid on the wet cement and then removed.

Jen, they did it on dry concrete?

[bayou girl]

Sheri, that is exactly what they did. Only some rooms were 10x10 and some as large as 24x24. I didn't like it for a house, but a porch would be good. They stained and sealed the concrete when they were done.

[Tina]

I think you will never get the new concrete to look like the older stuff, just due to aging and things.

[sunsoaker]

If you are going to do it after it is set/dry, why not just snap the pattern with chalk lines and score it (with a circular saw/diamond blade)?

But I agree with Tina, I don't think you'll ever get it to match. I'd be more likely to extend the porch then tile the whole thing with some kind of outdoor tile.

[Tina]

Or add a thin layer to the top of all and add whatever pattern I wanted to that.

[bestofour]

I'm planning on doing it while it's wet.  I think it's nuts to let it dry then have to cut it if I can get around it.

[bayou girl]

i would do it wet too sheri.  i agree that it is nuts.  but, that said, it is a lot easier to move around the edges and reach across when you talking a few feet vs the whole foundation of a house with wet cement.

[bestofour]

Did I tell you we decided not to extend our front porch?  We're going to do a little work on the columns but nothing major.  I got to thinking about it and I can't imagine that we'd actually use it for sitting.  We have a very small screened in porch on the side of the house that we're going to enlarge instead.

And I'm not sure where I've posted about my house but did I tell you that we finally got all the doors finished and the kitchen ceiling and kitchen walls finished and the touch up painting finished?  I got a quote on refacing the kitchen cabinets but that will only take 2 days.  Even though I like white appliances we're going to get stainless ones because it's better for selling.  Ginger and Chris have made lots of money on flipping a few houses and she said that's what people want and then I saw a property show where even though the house had been upgraded with brand NEW white appliances the couple buying wanted the current owners to give them money to replace them with stainless.  Who knows if we'll really ever move but at 61 years old I hope these are the last appliances we have to buy.  We've been working on this house since we moved bought it in 2001 and now we really need to redo the laundry room and downstairs bath. 

[landofoz]

Congratulations on getting so much finished - it seemed like you guys were working in your kitchen for a long time!  What color did you paint it?  I've heard the same thing about stainless appliances but I strongly prefer white.  It sounds like you've always got a project going at your house - kudos for actually getting it done! 

[bayou girl]

...I've heard the same thing about stainless appliances but I strongly prefer white...

me too.

[Tina]

I am a white appliance girl.

[bestofour]

We painted the kitchen vanilla wafer and the molding bone white.

Sarah, we do always have something going but the problem with the kitchen is we kept changing our mind and the original carpenter turned up with lung cancer and we didn't have the heart to hire someone else because he kept talking about "when I get better".  He ended up dying so we asked Mr. Rape to do it. 

[landofoz]

Is vanilla wafer a yellow or is it more of a creamy color?  And you really do have the worst luck with hired help, sheesh!

[bestofour]

I put on my glasses and went down and looked at it.  It's not as yellow as the color of the pencil you have as your ticker but it's not as dark as a vanilla wafer.  At first glance people would call it cream.  At second glance they'd say cream with a tiny bit of gold.  The bone white goes great with it.  I love bone white trim.  It really goes with everything.  We have it all over our house.

[landofoz]

That sounds lovely.  I like white trim as well and put it everywhere I can.