Mortar is way too dark! Is it possible to lighten?
We've had a snafu with the stonework on the exterior to say the least! We originally wanted our autumn leaf Eldorado Stone flat stacked but our masonry guy told us that was not possible in the Midwest climate as the winters would cause the stone to be unstable or something. So we agreed to the stacking as you see in the attached photo.
My biggest issue with this is the grout color. I was leaning towards light gray or some thing of that sort. My husband and stone guy decided a darker color would look better. Now this is what we have, dark chocolate mortar. It is making the stone look like puzzle pieces and clashes with my wood garage doors. Is there a way to lighten the mortar without having it all drilled out and replaced with a lighter color? Please help?
Comments (12)
kirkhall
10 years agoRelated Discussions
How to lighten table top if it is possibly sealed
Comments (1)There are a couple of ways you can do this. Since you are talking about gel stain - I assume you do not wish to strip/sand this table back to bare wood? If it were my table, this is what I would do. 1)Clean well and then apply Zinnser Seal Coat. (It is a de-waxed shellac and can go over/under anything. It will act like a bonding coat.) Sold at Lowe's. 2)Paint table top a golden/tan/yellow color. Let dry 24 hours. 3)Use gel stain and a very wide brush to create a "faux bois" wood grain. (Fake wood) You will have to do several coats. The first coat doesn't look great. Keep going! 4)Top with oil base clear coat. My fav is General Finishes Arm-R-Seal. You can put wet drinks on it and no ring will appear! It's iron tough. Sold at Rockler stores or smaller hardware stores. I have done this to several Craigslist pieces and they've turned out great. You can do this. Good luck!...See MoreBacksplash to lighten up a dark kitchen?
Comments (15)Thanks for all of the advice, everyone! I took some better pictures of the kitchen in terms of light (see below), although it has no flooring right now. The impetus for the slight remodel is a flood that started two floors above me and ruined all of my hardwood floors, so they're all pulled up and my condo is entirely concrete at the moment other than the kitchen and the bedrooms/bathrooms. That being said, based on your advice, I decided to suck it up and get new counters. I'm going with quartz with a carrara marble look, and I think I'm going to go with a white/frosted white glass tile pattern backsplash. Here's a picture of a cabinet and counter that are similar to mine with the backsplash I'm leaning toward. I'm not totally married to this one, though, so I'd love some input! I'm also including a picture of the flooring I'm leaning toward (although it's a tiny bit redder in person). Now I just need to choose a paint color! Thanks again, everyone, for convincing me that it's worth it to do new counters! Pictures of the kitchen now:...See MoreFirst coat is way too dark!
Comments (4)Hold off!!!! If you're anything like me you're just not use to the immediate change. I would wait 2-3 weeks before painting again. The color may grow on you. When I redid my bathroom I went from burnt orange color to light gray. The gray looked like primer. I HATED it... But slowly overtime the color grew on me, and the bathroom got remodeled, so it all came together.. But I did the same thing you did - painted and freaked. I almost went to the paint store to get something a couple shades darker but my husband told me to wait. Also, my living room area is a very pale yellow color. My house had faux ugly brown trim and I replaced it with white trim, and painted all the doors. As soon as the new trim went in, I HATED the light yellow wall color. I thought it clashed with white.. Well I waited, and months later the color grew on me.. Now I love it... Give it some time. Seriously....See MoreWood floors too dark, can I lighten?
Comments (7)Did your flooring expert offer stain samples (on the sanded floors) for you to inspect/choose/sign-off on? If not, then a very big step was missed. I'm sorry but lighter means REDO. Complete. Redo. If the stain sample was NOT provided, you can talk to the professional about splitting the costs. If you were given a stain sample and you gave it the "OK", then the cost of the change will be carried by you - the homeowner. I understand that your samples show a much lighter wood and that you were expecting the "same"....but not all stains can do this. Not all species of wood can carry this colour (this is gray/brown = SUPER HARD TO MAKE). And not all flooring professionals can achieve gray....in fact only a small handful will have taken the courses to LEARN how to make gray. I wish you luck. Photos of the rest of the flooring around the stairs would help....See MoreUser
10 years agoniteshadepromises
10 years agocreekcrew
10 years agoThank you all for the replies!! Keep them coming! Specifically-
Kirkhall:
my apologies for the sideways pic-it is right side up on my screen. i agree that the right lower section looks better! It was done first, however the rest has been curing for 2 weeks ans the stine guy said his men actually made a mistake while mixing the first section of mortar that is lighter:( he is planning on removing and regrouting that lower right section to match the rest of the dark chocolate.Renovator8:
Donyou have a pic to further explain the header? I dont follow but am. Ertainly interrsted in your suggestion for improvements. My iniyial inspiration pic is attached showing a light trim around a wood door.
creekcrew
10 years agoAnd as an extension of my garage concerns....as you can see in this picture, I noticed the top seal is overlapping the tops of the window framing on the doors grrr! Is this as bad as i feel like it is?! Ive put in a call to the installer and he is coming out tomorrow to take a look.
Im feeling very depressed as to how the exterior is coming along even though the color choices are our fault. Im looking for ways to improve the look. We will be adding timber gable accents to the double garage that you can barely see to the right in original post pic.
User
10 years agoDreamingoftheUP
10 years agoActually, I like the dark mortar on the left. It complements the beautiful stone.
What Renovator8 is saying is that real stone work (i.e. a real masonry wall, not cladding) would need substantial support for the weight of the stone. To provide the realism, the cladding should include the look of a stone lintel or, if it would be angle iron, the door trim would be set in more. Since it's too late for that, painting it a similar color as the door would give the impression of an angle iron support since such thin wood could not support real stone.
Stone lintel over a garage door:
Angle iron support over a garage door
You might have this issue with other windows and doors as well. Note that it's not a structural problem. It's an architectural detail which provides realism for a stick built home attempting to achieve a solid masonry look. Stone lintel over windows:
{{gwi:1424577}}This post was edited by DreamingoftheUP on Fri, Mar 21, 14 at 8:14
chicagoans
10 years agoHere's a rough mockup showing Renovator's idea to make the trim match the doors. I do think it makes the dark grout less noticeable.
I think your exterior will look very nice! And I like your choice of garage door.
This post was edited by chicagoans on Fri, Mar 21, 14 at 9:40
galore2112
10 years agonepool
10 years agoI always thought the Eldorado stone was set in squares or sheets...didn't realize it was laid 1 stone at a time like real stone.
The autumn leaf Eldorado on the company website looks totally different than the one in the pictures above. I know the website one is 'dry' and this one has mortar, but do the stones need to have such wide mortar lines for the Eldorado stone (if you use mortar)?
Eldorado Stone Autumn Leaf:
[Products[(https://www.houzz.com/products/products-pcat-br~) by San Marcos Building Supplies Eldorado Stone
nepool
10 years ago
User