How likely is it that the surrounding cement will crack? Since this is right up against the house, if it cracks in one direction it will go under the house, into the foundation. If it cracks the other direction it will be in our driveway. Neither are good. I think I need to come up with a pretty way to make a raised bed. What kind of options do I have that would be pretty enough for the front of a house? Maybe a stained cedar? There isn't any other cedar on the house though so that may look odd. Could I use stone as long as there are drainage holes? There wouldn't be any holes on the bottom though so how would that work?

Hi dmissy, Its hard to tell depth from the pic, would the lattice stick way out? The problem seems to me to be the siding dropping down between more than the concrete porch frame. The siding looks odd whereas if the old porch foundation went straight across and the siding straight above it, the appearance would look ok. I guess the chances of finding a match to the concrete in facing material is unlikely but I think that is what I would try to do - cut out the siding and install something that resembles the old porch, then paint it all slightly darker than the siding, with cream and tan and grey to give it a stone look. The quick fix would be to paint it slightly darker as I said but just a paint the siding that is between the same way and also repair the base below the siding. OR you could stucco over the cement porch, still would have to take off the siding and then add something for a lip just below the siding. I don't know what is under the siding but if its something that can be stucco'd on do that. My dh insulated our foundation with foam board (blue board its called even though the one we bought was pink), and thens stucco'd the part that is above the ground and it looks great! If you went the stucco route the goal would be to hide the concrete blocks and make a smoother surface. You could put a piece of blue board where the siding used to be and stucco on that. Anyway, just alternative thoughts. Be sure to post what you finally do about it! and good luck. kathy

Maribeth Sherman Some of the comments above are correct. What: This is Spalling or delamination. It only occurs generally with sedimentary stone, where the bed or how it is formed in layers. Is the dressed or exposed side. Why some will delaminate and others will not. Cause: It is caused by salt/ rising damp/ stone being wet then drying out and leaving the salts behind. Some once above has used the term "efflorescence" which is correct. That is what it is. All salts are highly corrosive and why things rust.... it is the stone version of rusting. Can it be stopped. YES, whilst some one has correctly said about sealer do not work... this is 99% correct. Most sealers for stone are micro porosity impregnating sealer. Which in layman terms, are plastic particles that seal off the pores whilst allowing the stone to breathe. But the problem is they only impregnated from 1/4mm to 2mm into the stone. There is only one product that we know works, is for the life of the stone. So does not need reapplying. More importantly ----WORKS! You will need to clean your stone first before applying. How to clean; Due to the type of stone and the black mould on the surface. You have two options. 1) pressure clean - though this will leave a sand everywhere as it wears away the surface. 2) a solution of 10%sodium hypochlorite (AKA liquid Pool Chlorine). You can apply very easily... Get a spray pack from home depot, bunnings etc. a 10 Litre and add 1 litre of the sodium hypochlorite.... Shake and spray on.... Spray to saturate. It is best to do this on a sunny day... starting at the bottom. Leave on the stone for 20mins and rinse with a hose. It will clean it up like new and then use the DRY TREAT - META CREME to seal. Reapply the Meta Creme as necessary as porous stone will take more in. This is the only product that will stop the spalling and efflorescence attack on the stone. Works and is also great around salt water pools for the same issue.

"4 beams with minimal sconces" I thought you didn't want to attach anything to the beams. Perhaps you mean attaching sconces to the stone pillars. Lights from the beams would, I think, provide more even lighting of the stone walls as shown in this picture. Stones adjacent to sconces would necessarily be might brighter than those above and below. (But I'd probably attach sconces to all six pillars assuming they were controlled with dimmers.) I don't see a reason lighting the outside stone pillars. They serve no function, it appears, and if the lights shown outward or upward they'd just contribute to light pollution. They'll be visible to you and passersby 16 hours/day without artificial lighting.