Front part of porch completed!

I had so many chores today, but still managed to work on the porch! The morning started w/ helping my daughter assemble 2 wire shelves for my grand-daughters room, as she has a gazillion toys.
Then, I went out and blew off the porch, and mopped with TSP... it's gotten quite dusty in the past few weeks. While waiting for that to dry (it's a beautiful 74 degrees today), I opened up some windows and started cleaning ceiling fans. I have one cat, and there is always hair up on the ceiling fans; I'm sure it contributes to my allergies! Since I had the TSP and bucket out, I cleaned fingerprints off of doors.
Finally, the porch was dry enough to start water proofing it!
I used Olympic Water Guard. This sprayer was only $15 and worked pretty good! I sprayed on the water sealant, then back brushed with a paint brush.
 
 
it went on white, but dried clear
 
I am completely done with the front section of the porch!
I'm really happy with the color.
The railings look a 100% better. As they went from this:

to this:


The four front railings are done... four side ones to go!
 
It's pretty amazing how much different everything looks!
Edge of porch before:
 
edge of porch after repairing and painting on first coat...
 
front of door before:

front of door after putting on water sealant
(it's still wet/white in photo)
 
Also repaired one of the steps... it started out like this today:

and this
 
and I got it to look like this... not perfect, but definitely better

 
 
The corner was really bad...
 
after cleaning...

after patching...

I'm going to paint the steps with gray concrete paint after I'm all done repairing. Next weekend I'll get my porch swing hung back up and the porch decorated for Halloween.
 

Comments

  1. Sharon @ Laurelhurst CraftsmanOctober 22, 2012 at 11:04 AM

    It looks really nice! When the painters painted our house last year, they slapped paint on our porch but they didn't clean or repair any of the wood, so it really doesn't look much better. I'm hoping to eventually repair and nicely paint the porch. Someday.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Cass @ That Old HouseOctober 23, 2012 at 1:45 PM

    Wow -- you are ambitious, and it's all looking great. I'm especially impressed with the repair to the step; that takes courage!

    Thanks for visiting That Old House, and especially for commenting on my old 2008 post (my second-ever blog post!) about Halloween, and missing the trick or treaters.

    And guess what? I'm on Main Street too!
    I think that in most towns, at least in our small one, the most interesting houses are on Main Street.
    Don't you agree?

    Love your beautiful brick house -- our last house, ca 1918, was brick - I loved it!
    Happy Halloween! -- Your story about your doctor ghost is fascinating!
    Cass

    ReplyDelete
  3. DebbieOctober 23, 2012 at 2:02 PM

    @ Sharon, I know you'll get it done! I still have a long way to go... but I get happy every time I step outside the front door. I love the improvements. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. DebbieOctober 23, 2012 at 2:10 PM

    @ Cass,
    You have probably got several versions of this comment in your email as I just can't get it right! LOL
    Thank you for the compliments of of my progress!
    And yes, I do believe houses on Main Street are interesting and have the most history.... they most likely the first ones built in small towns. The family that built my house owned the livery stable, hotel and mercantile in town, as well as a LOT of land... so this house was very well built. :)
    I absolutely love my brick house

    ReplyDelete

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