Knockdown is a combination of cement, sand, and acrylic plastics applied over existing concrete. It comes in a standard finish called Lace and can be done into patterns like herringbone brick, flagstone, and many others. The most popular Mfg is Sundek, try putting it into Google search. It'll be the most affordable upgrade to your existing concrete. Stamped, colored, and sealed patterned concrete overlay is beautiful. I'm not really a fan of it around pools because it beads water and can be slick. Kids with wet feet always run around pools in spite of a no running rule. In your application it would be awesome. Figure on double the price of Acrylic for it. On natural flagstone figure on 3 to 4 times the price. I'm curious, how large of an area are you planning on? See ya, Kelly

My mistake Mike, I thought it was 1.5 ft. not inches. I've never seen a slab resting on footings, new one on me. Sounds like you would need to fasten sleeper joist to the slab, then screw 1x6's or 1x4's for decking. Each joist would have to be ripped to compensate for slop of the slab. Leave the ends open & use wider gaps than normal then maybe you won't have condensation problems. With all that said I'd be inclined to demo that slab & start from stratch. Al

you can do it either way. the only issues with what your contractor is planning is, the mantle is more likely to be damaged if installed first, and depending on what you're doing, the stone can eat up mantle space. plenty are done this way, its just things to think about. the alternative is, put up a mounting block of some sort attached to the brick (smaller than mantle), then install stone, attach mantle to mounting block. it really depends on the style of the mantle and stone and the desired look. I would assume that a contractor should be able to install stone around a mantle and no scratch it. my mantle, which isn't in place yet, and the stone isn't in place yet, will be a barn beam. they're not particularly deep, so the plan is to put up a mounting block and attach the beam after the stone, basically on top of the stone to get more of a ledge.

Michael looking at your photos the first thing I thought was TREX! I think they even have a gray that might match your siding. Darker would be better, though. Look at your tiles. That one on the front of the porch deck could just as well be another step, easy. It would mean not having to box around the post, maybe, too. (Can't quite tell from this angle.) So keep the steps as they are, use the current deck of the porch as the last step, and build the new Trex deck from the edge of that tile, back. Once you are to the right side of the roof post footing, you can build the porch forward all you want, just save money and trouble by keeping the stairs as they are and using the tile at the top of the steps as a new step. The 7" height you want to add is even perfect for a step.