About three weeks ago I told y’all that I’m not quite ready to commit to a big project (like turning the hallway bathroom into a storage room) just yet, so I’m going to spend some time on fun projects. I had originally planned to get involved in some outdoor projects, but just as I was purchasing the boards I needed to finish the porch baseboards, it started raining. Then I focused on redesigning the entrance area instead.
The renovation of the entrance area is completed. I will have new pictures of the entire living room, music room and entryway for you soon (hopefully tomorrow). So of course I was busy coming up with ideas for outdoor projects. I’m not even sure how much I’ll be able to get done as there’s more rain forecast for this week so I may have to refocus on more indoor projects in the meantime. But I want to take advantage of every beautiful day we have by getting outside and working on these outdoor projects.
However, as I think about these projects and plan the order in which I want to tackle these projects, something keeps bothering me. Honestly, my biggest regret is the exterior improvements I made to our home. And that regret is that I used cedar porch boards instead of a composite material for our porch.
It looks great right after sealing. This is what it looked like right after I finished the porch and steps.
But it just doesn’t stay that way. I have been working on this porch for several years now and have tried various outdoor porch products. But I have yet to find one that looks nice and retains its color for even a year. All of the products I have used begin to fade and peel within a year of resealing the porch boards.
Of course, all houses require regular maintenance. But while we’ve been planning for this to be our forever home, I’ve also started assessing how many things need regular maintenance. And since Matt can’t help me with that, it’s either up to me to do it or I have to hire someone to do it. And you all know I’m cheap and hate renting out jobs that I know I can do myself. However, since my time is limited, these actually fairly simple projects get pushed to the side while other things require my immediate attention.
It’s not just a porch either. Since I had already used cedar porch boards on the porch, I also decided to use the same cedar porch boards when building the steps in my workshop because I want them to match each other.
But now I’m at a crossroads. As I think about and plan outdoor projects, I have two other areas that I want to combine with the porch and my workshop steps. First I have to build the steps to the side door of my studio. I’ve had cinder blocks there for years, but I really need to get the steps built soon before the weather destroys the OSB that isn’t covered by the trim. And of course I want these steps to match the porch and steps of my workshop.
And then I have to build the porch and steps to our new bedroom door. And this definitely has to match the porch since both are at the front of our house.
So if I continue with the cedar planks for the side steps to the studio as well as the porch and steps to our new bedroom door, I will be forced to re-caulk all four areas at least every two years. So I’m really thinking about changing course for the studio steps and the bedroom porch and steps and using composite decking in those areas. And then, sometime in the near future, I would redo the porch with the same composite decking.
Honestly, I really don’t care if my workshop steps exactly match the areas seen from the front of our house, but I would eventually have these done with composite too so I don’t have to reseal them either. I really hate spending time and money remodeling a project as big as our front porch, which is already finished and has been done for years. But after dealing with the porch for several years now and dealing with the headaches that come with regular re-caulking, I’m just getting to the point where I’m thinking about the long-term maintenance of our home. I think it might be worth replacing these boards sooner rather than later.
