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Porches & Decks

Limestone Porch Floor?

17 years ago

New Home Build with a full length front and rear porch. We have lots of native limestone around here, and wanted to go with something native, or natural. Our porch will be only 2 steps from the ground, so wood is out. Don't like concrete. Has anyone seen or done a natural stone mix on a front porch? Brick is another option...........Thanks!

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Comments (4)

Kelli Tucker Campbell
15 years ago
I'm going to bump this question. We're building a house, and I'm trying to figure out what to use for floor of the front porch. We can use aggregate, but I'm afraid that will be sort of crunchy when you're rocking in a rocking chair. Not sure what to do with concrete. I'd like to see pics of those who've used stone.
missstaceyh
15 years ago
Bump again! I am also curious about this. I like the look of flag stone on porches but don't know how affordable that will be. I'm not a big fan but a lot of people around here are using stamped concrete. It comes in many colors and patterns. I think it tends to look too artificial or man-made but that's just my opinion.
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I'm one of the crazy people who installed limestone in a children's bathroom..... I had 3 bathrooms to do and lost my ability to make a decision when it came to my daughter's bathroom so I allowed myself to get talked into the limestone. I didn't want a "kiddie" bath but something that would still be cool when she's a bit older. Anyway, we're not moved in yet but I sealed it, sealed it again with Miracle 511. Here's a pic, the tile work is finished but we haven't installed the fixtures yet. I chose the mosaic and would have agreed to anything that matched it :) Tumbled limestone is not really my style but it does look earthy and my daughter is a real nature lover. The part I do love is the floor. As you can see, it's small bathroom and is now a limestone cave. My daughter and my husband think it's so cool and I guess that's what counts, it does actually look a bit better in person.
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@Sincerely Kristen, I just responded to your post about replacing your tile with an existing hydronic heating system and came across this post about limestone tile, lol! FYI, we can't wait to replace our limestone floor in our upcoming bathroom remodel! While it feels smooth and soft on our feet it's a PITA to maintain in terms of etching, staining, etc. W can't wait to replace our limestone with Fireclay tile (floor) and Corian Glacier White (shower)!
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What would you think of a mid-tone olive-y green? Pull a green from the tile. Not light since it has to stand up to the wood and tile. But not as dark as the kitchen either since you don’t want it to get oppressive. I think it could look very nice with the wood and draw your eye up from the tile.
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This is purely guess but since it already has a bit of a rough texture and since it hasnt yet been sealed, would it make sense to gently sand off just enough to remove the paint.... depends of course on how deep the paint has seeped in. That would avoid risk of a chemical or anything changing the color or messing up the seal coat. Ive been re building my fish pond and chiseling some of the limestone rocks and surprised how soft it is and easily shaped.
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fivefootzero
15 years ago
We used PA Bluestone in irregular shapes for our porch floor so I can speak with experience here. I went to a stone supplier in Central NJ (Stone Center of Bridgewater...wonderful place by the way). I picked out my bluestone (irregular PA Bluestone). I needed approximately 350 sq. feet. This turned out to be approximately 5300 lbs. The cost per lb. was 0.13/lb for the 3/4"-1 1/2" thickness. There is a larger thickness as well, but it would have been too thick for my porch depth. I also added some lilac blue stone to the mix, at 0.18/lb. for some color variation.
What I can say is that installation is VERY labor intenstive. These pieces of bluestone are large, heavy, and leveling and filling with mortar seems to take a LONG time.

We bordered it with limestone around the perimeter to match our limestone treads on our steps. Pricing was approximately It was quite reasonable here in Central NJ.

We considered stamped concrete for this and for our back patio. I do not like it. It looks artificial to me and very plasticy (if that's a word).

Here's a picture of it and the front of the house.
wkate640
14 years ago
Bumping this to see if anyone has recently used bluestone or other stone for their front porch. Not sure we like composite and don't want the maintenance of wood because this will be our retirement home. Please share pix and cost if you don't mind, or percentage of cost of stone v. composite or wood. Many thanks.

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