In recent weeks we had noticed a distinct crack in our front steps. It might have been the weather or more likely some settling. Regardless, the two steps had separated from the main part of the platform and the walkway. Below are a couple shots of the upper crack/crevice.
This obviously wouldn't do. With the crack nearly an inch in a few places, we knew we needed to fill it with something first before adding a concrete patch. We had bought this foam backer years ago and find that it works really well because you can squish it into about any shape and size.
With this in place we used a concrete patch. It worked great, but you can see that it didn't look very nice. All two-toned and clearly a patch job. We knew we'd have to apply a skim coat of cement over the whole staircase and took advantage to take down the handrail that we put up in March and fill all the holes from that and a previous attempt.
What we discovered in this first attempt is how hard it is to get a smooth, even surface. It didn't help that the only mixing instructions on the package were to avoid a "soupy" consistency. The result was a mess.
Fortunately, we're stubborn. We did a couple more passes with the concrete to fill in gaps and low spots. In between we used this little tool (aka, a rub brick) to smooth things out and remove any blobs. It's basically a block of hard concrete with a handle, but it sure helps.
We decided that we'd paint everything, so we took advantage to fill some holes and gaps in the bricks around the platform. Today we applied this white concrete primer and a first coat of gray. It's looking pretty spiffy now.
We also had an occasion to do some fun, creative projects. Regular readers will remember a project from about 18 months ago to build a laundry hamper. It turned out great but was far too big for its original purpose, so we'd started using it kinda like a coffee table.
The one part that didn't live up to the rest was the plywood lid. What to do, what to do? The top was recessed about the height of a standard tile. We had some of the Mexican tiles left over from the downstairs bathroom, would they work? You be the judge.
This is pretty long, but we'll include one last project from start-to-finish. We had an idea for a little woodworking that would involve some pretty, new wood that we got from our local dealer. It's the one on top, although for the life of us we can't remember what it's called.
What we really liked were the interesting colors and grains in the wood. You can see a neat streak of red that's completely natural. The little cross-section piece shows this well.
The next step was to cut a few 1x1 inch pieces.
This project required routering a .5x.5 inch corner off (the pine is there to help keep the router level).
After cutting the pieces to the right size, we glued them together, sanded everything, and finished them with our favorite water-based sealer. And voila! We made ourselves a picture frame. It looks even better in person, with the red streaks more prominent.
To quote the pig, that's all folks! Ain't it enough? ; )
