This will probably become a House Proud column at some point but for now it’s a work in progress.
Our entry steps were gross. They were covered in indoor/outdoor green carpeting that had seen better years. But we weren’t sure what we were going to do with the breezeway under which those steps reside, and only recently did we decide that we wouldn’t build an addition but a separate garage. Now that fixing the steps wouldn’t be a waste of time, we took it on. This is how it looked when we moved in complete with green carpeting rolled down beside the house. It was disgusting to cut and dispose of!
So all that had been done to date was the carpet cut at the end of the steps and a new doormat plopped in front of the door. The siding along that side of the house was also discoloured from old mildew or something. Power washing didn’t clean it up so we hired College Pro painters to do some freshening of the siding with a coat of paint and to paint the steps and railing. All we would have to do first is take up the carpeting and wash the steps and siding down, right? Right!
Wrong! After Derek power-washed the whole area and the painters scraped, sanded and prepped it for paint, some of the wood on the steps had the consistency of wet cardboard and had to be replaced.
It would have been unsafe and unwise to leave it so now we have new, solid steps. The guys came back and painted (did a great job, too!) and left a “runner” area on the landing and down the steps for me to apply a product called Beautitone Hardrock. It’s supposed to mimic stone and be non-slip, stand up to winter, etc etc. Here’s what it looked like when the painters were finished but before I got started.
I’m in the midst of the Hardrock application which ends in several coats of sealer. Then I need to touch up the paint where I mucked around with caulking and it now looks discoloured. And THEN it will be finished. The Hardrock is supposed to give the appearance of stone but isn’t quite living up to its claim. There will be more about that in Stepping Stones: The Sequel. Stay tuned!