November 6, 2004 Radio Show Billie: Covering the Front Stoop with Slate or a Concrete Overlay (Pittsburgh, PA)
Tim: Let's go to the phones once again. Billie, it's Tim
Carter. Thanks for calling Ask The Builder. How are you
today?
Billie: Hi. How are you?
Tim: Doing pretty good!
Billie: Good! I had emailed you about my front stoop. I'm
in Pittsburgh.
Tim: Yes.
Billie: I read the article you told me to read about,
putting slate on it.
Tim: Yes.
Billie: And I didn't know whether that would be better, or
someone had also suggested just repairing the cracks and
painting it with like an oil paint with like a no-skid in
it, or something?
Tim: No. You don't want to paint it, because any paint that
you put on that outdoor porch stoop is very likely going to
peel off for any number of reasons.
Billie: Okay.
Tim: In my opinion, you've got a couple of choices: cover
it with a slate, which is just drop-dead gorgeous. I hope
you could kind of tell that from that photograph that's in
that column?
Billie: Uh-huh.
Tim: Or, if you want to; if you want to go back with a
concrete look and even colorize it, you can do a thin
concrete overlay even as thin as a quarter of an inch. And
if you go back to the website again and look under the
concrete section, you'll see where I talk about concrete
overlays.
Billie: Okay.
Tim: Like I said, you can go as thin as a quarter of an
inch, which means you're just putting a coating of stucco
on, or if you even wanted to add 1/2 inch or 1 inch of new
concrete, you can do that as well. And if you follow all the
directions in that column, it'll look fantastic. Now, here's
the best part. Like you were just talking about painting it
a different color?
Billie: Uh-huh.
Tim: When you put down this new concrete overlay; have you
seen this stamped
concrete around your house anywhere or at some of these
restaurants?
Billie: Yeah, where you can dye it how you want.
Tim: Yeah, exactly. They have these dry pigments. They're
called dry shake and it just looks like flour. It's this bag
of colored pigments. And once the concrete's wet, you kind
of shake it into it. You know what I mean?
Billie: Yes.
Tim: You like shake these pigments in and you trowel it in.
And that color penetrates down into that coating about 1/8
to 3/16s of an inch, and you'll actually have a permanently
colored concrete surface. So, you can do that! So, you've
got a lot of options.
Billie: Which do you think would hold up better and longer?
Tim: I would have no trouble with the slate. The slate will
last longer than you will on this earth ((laughing) if you
put it down the way I told you to. I'm serious. If you put
that slate down the right way, it'll last 50 to 100 years.
And personally, I think the slate has so much more
character.
Billie: Yeah. When I was at the store, I looked and they
just had so many beautiful colors in it and it was really
nice.
Tim: Right!
Billie: So, I just wanted to make sure that that was the
best option.
Tim: Well, I mean, think about it. Slate's rough. I mean,
it's rough!
Billie: Right.
Tim: So the only thing you have to worry about is making
sure that you put the thin set down right so it doesn't
become detached.
Billie: Right. I mean, something needs to be done.
Tim: I tell you what, Billie, I wish I could come back up
there in Pittsburgh. I'd help you put it down. We'd have it
down in about a day or so.
Billie: Oh, wow! Okay. Well, that's half of my battle. I'm
not sure if you saw the pictures, but then I had them take
that awful awning off of the house. And I didn't know, Is
there something out there, a company that makes like pre-
made gables, or is there another option I can use, like a
cloth? You know, those cloths.
Tim: Yeah, just a regular cloth awning. There's nobody that
makes a pre-made gable because it would be too heavy. I mean
it just wouldn't work. You'd have to frame that yourself.
So, yeah, different cloth awnings. I mean, I wouldn't
hesitate to do that. That's just a commercial product. Just
look in the yellow pages and you'll find those.
Billie: Okay. It might be a good way of getting a gable if
I hire a contractor for me.
Tim: Yeah, it's not as hard as you might think, but I'd
probably hire a remodeling contractor. They could probably
put one up in a couple of days.
Billie: Right. Okay.
Tim: All right!
Billie: I'm sorry. Could I ask you one more question?
Tim: Yeah, very quickly.
Billie: Okay. The fiberglass rails and columns that resell,
are those reliable to use?
Tim: Yes, absolutely if you go fiberglass.
Billie: Okay.
Tim: And even the aluminum ones are good. There's the same
old thing. Let price be your barometer. In other words, look
at all the different options, and the ones that tend to be
the most expensive probably have the best ingredients and
best materials in them.
Billie: Uh-huh.
Tim: But pay attention. Here's the most important thing.
Once you've decided on which one you want?
Billie: Uh-huh.
Tim: You ask that company, `I'd like to have three
addresses where you've installed these things.' And actually
drive up and go knock on their door and see how they really
look up close and personal, because what they look like in a
showroom and what they look like at houses are sometimes
entirely different.
Billie: (laugh) Okay! Thanks for your help. Thank you.
Tim: All right, Billie! Contact me anytime. Thanks for
calling.