The caution tape is down and the refurbished steps are finished. And while they’re quite okay, they didn’t turn out the way the product promised they would.
The Beautitone Hardrock is supposed to mimic stone. I suppose it does, perhaps, a bit but for a product that goes on like pudding it doesn’t cover the wood as well as I expected. For $150 worth of product (tinted primer, the Hardrock & sealer) it looks an awful lot like the finish I put on painted stairs a few years ago. I bought a can of mis-tinted paint ($15) and added a three-dollar packet of sand to create a non-slip surface. True, this does look better but the effect is not a lot different and the character of the wood is still apparent through the finish. However, the sealer is what’s going to make or break this project since unlike basement stairs, it will be exposed to the elements. I’m also rethinking the wisdom of using white on something underfoot but we’ll see how it fares with dirt before making any changes there.
So now our nice little home doesn’t have an entryway that looks like it belongs to a crackhouse! On to the next thing…