Any advice would be appreciated! Exterior paint / Stone porch
Dennis Lin
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
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Dennis Lin
5 years agoRelated Discussions
Major setback. Would appreciate advice. :(
Comments (45)Chellamaral, there was tile EVERYWHERE in this house and it only bled through in one area - a back bathroom. I think the grout was white, but I believe it was white all over the house . The tile that bled was the only original tile from 1958 left, so maybe that had something to do with it. To be honest, it didnt look that bad. One contractor was kind enough to tell me that if he stained the existing concrete, I would have ghosting every where. The current contractors said the same thing, hence the overlay. My friend just used the same contractor, and their existing floor was good enough to stain w/no overlay. I will ask the flooring guy why some floors are good tomorrow. I didnt get any pics of the bathroom, but here is an example I found online: Pip is doing well. He is a male parakeet. I already have two small (potty trained!) parrots, and wasnt looking for any more birds, but little Pip needs someone. His wings are cut (badly) and his nails are VERY long, but he seems tame. I have scoured the internet and no one has posted a lost ad in that area. My friend says that there are lots of foreclosures where she found him, and she thinks someone just let him go. How could someone let a bird that cant fly "loose?" It is bound to be eaten by a cat. I will probably get him a girlfriend and a bigger cage, once I move into the new house. There will actually be a bird room for my two birds. I love my birds, but had I known how much time/attn. they require, I would have thought twice before buying them. Below is my Rocky (post bath) and Zeek. I had an AC contractor look at the ducts. He said I have a HUGE underground duct with branches to the rooms, and moving the current ducts would be fine. The ducts are moved now and they have laid the first coats of overlay. Unfortunately, the scoring is still showing through and looks terrible! They are laying another coat tomorrow, but I am not confident it will disappear. I am not sure I am willing to pay 1k for the scoring, since the last one was wavy. I told him to cover it up and assume I am not scoring. kitchen: living room moved to bar: I love the reto renovation site! Thank you for the link. LOL@the 90's song posted on there. I will keep you guys updated! Thank you for your help. :)...See MoreAny advice on rebuilding porch stoop? Wood or bluestone?
Comments (5)Thanks for the replies! (I posted this over on "porches and decks" weeks ago and got none at all.) Curb appeal is important, although I think either would look OK. Bluestone would definitely look better, but not if it's massively more complicated and expensive. The house itself is a 1950's bland ranch, which had been skewed (bad) "colonial" by a P.O. and we're reversing that. We live in a coastal Maine town and our reno is coastal/cottage with vaguely Craftsman accents to speak to the long low silouette and deep eave overhangs, as well as to the interior reno we're just finishing, which shares Craftsman attributes such as open living space, bringing the outdoors in, and lots of natural materials like slate, cherry, and other wood and stone. The exterior (currently) is structural colored cement block that looks like brick from a distance but isn't really, plus white vinyl from a P.O.'s early 90's addition. We'll be removing the vinyl and replacing with Kennebunker cedar shingles (oil-dipped in a natural grey-beige that looks like weathered cedar) and painting all the masonry in a similar grey-beige color. Side door is varnished fir, craftsman style. Cedar deck out back is long, low, sort of Asian. Garage will have cedar arbor/pergola overhangs on the garage doors. Landscaping includes cedar trellises, japanese maples, ornamental grasses, textured plantings, bluestone and slate. The side porch (which we're also rebuilding) will be wood framed with Trex or cedar decking and simple square columns. The front door is rarely used so it's mainly for curb appeal. There will be a flagstone path, fairly informal, just set into the grass, leading to it. It would look best in bluestone, but the framed wood would probably work as well. I'm not sure how deep the existing steps are. It appears to be one solid mass of concrete and brick and stone. There used to be a major drainage issue in the front (since corrected) and they steps sank into the dirt over time. I don't know how deep they are. They SHOULD, of course, be 4 feet deep, but who knows. Yes, I expect it's a jackhammer project to remove them. So, theoretically, if we did wood, we could just build it all bigger than the existing mess, and leave that mess in place beneath the new porch (which will be higher anyway.) and that would probably be the easiest thing to do. If we go with masonry, can we somehow go over the existing mess, or would we need to remove it all? What's the procedure for building and filling such a thing? Existing steps (note that the "brick" cement block will be painted, and the door stripped and varnished with a new wood storm door. Landscape shrubs have been replaced with smaller ones):...See MoreAny advice for cost effective updated exterior cladding solutions?
Comments (21)Hi Jennifer, Thanks for the advice. Good point about not being able to go back, should we paint the brick and future buyers not like it. The primary reason why we are willing to spend some money on the exterior and landscaping is that it is overdue and would not show well as is. We've been meaning to do it for some time but when the pandemic hit we put our plans on hold because we were so busy and didn't need to pay a premium to get the work done quickly. Sad to be doing it for someone else to enjoy but as you stated we want the home to look well maintained. Selling as is, would not only decrease the selling price but shrink the pool of potential buyers who are willing to take on these projects. Our neighborhood has been slow to turn over. Still have a few original owners who haven't done much to their homes. In the past 5 - 6 years we've had more owner turnover and the new owners have been updating their 1970s homes. As a result, there has been a significant increase in the sale price of the renovated homes compared to ones that haven't been updated. The price difference is far greater than the investment we plan to spend or would be required to compete. We just want to make design choices that keep the pool of buyers as large as possible....See MoreAny advice is appreciated!
Comments (8)Great room & gorgeous floors! I’m on the NO don’t paint brick team. I’m wondering about the style of your home & thinking the brick is an integral part of it so I vote keep it. The granite caps / tops might have been an update though. I do agree change out the drapes to a much lighter color - match walls which look like a good shade for the brick. I would like the crown & base to be not such a bright white - maybe think about that. The rug is pretty & too bad it’s not a tad bigger. I think the rule is all seating legs either on or off the rug. I’d try pulling rug out into room farther & get all legs off it just to make rug more visible. Side table & lamps needed. I’m guessing those sofas are recliners so no coffee table will work? Swivel chairs would be great with a side table & lamp between. I’d pick fabric for the chairs whicheve style you get - a fabric with texture rather than pattern & pull a blue from rug for color. Don’t match colors of sofas as the contrast adds interest.I like the size & placement of the art on wall but it would be nice if the images were stronger so the art stood out a bit. Would one of them fit on left side of mantel? Or, in place of the huge clock? A console table or shelving / book case would be nice in the space under the clock - it would balance the TV & unit on other side, For the short term, I think replacing drape panels will provide the fastest & most impactful update....See MoreRawketgrl
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