We actually had nice weather over the weekend, so I went outside, determined to make some progress on the porch. I really wanted to remove the old, rotted siding boards and replace them with PVC panels and then do some work on the baseboard to cover the concrete.
Just a reminder: This is why I’m actually focusing on the porch right now (when we have nice weather outside). Here you can see how rotten the old boards were.
And it wasn’t just the front panel. The board on the side of the porch was even worse.
It took quite a while to get rid of the old panels. Let’s just say: When I build things, I don’t intend for them to be undone. But after removing the old boards from the front of the porch, I started painting the whole thing completely black. And then my idea was to install the new PVC panels and then cover the lower base area. I wanted to use 1″x4″ vertical PVC panels spaced about 1/4″ to 1/2″ inches apart. (And as you can see, the rain came back while I was working. I took most of these pictures after it started raining again.)
This is the color I painted the concrete and I asked them to mix it a rich black for me. I didn’t choose a color from the swatches. I just asked for pure, rich black. I was pretty impressed with this color. It applied very easily and covered really well.
I did all the painting first thing on Saturday and then let it dry for over 24 hours before moving on. My idea was to simply glue the vertical boards on with a polyurethane adhesive. I used this to glue the faux stones that were here, and I figured that if the polyurethane glue worked on faux stone it would work on PVC panels too (and they were still there very well when I took them off).
My concrete does have these horizontal ridges where the boards for the framing met when the concrete was poured, but I didn’t think they would be a problem since they weren’t a problem when gluing the stone in place.
But I wasn’t entirely sure about areas like that. I have two areas like this and thought they might be a problem, but I was willing to notch out the back of the PVC board to accommodate these areas.
But my whole idea failed pretty quickly. I decided to wait to add the other trim molding to the front until I had all the vertical baseboards in place. It seemed like it would be easier to put these on without the panels getting in the way. My idea was to start at the right corner of the porch with two vertical boards attached to each other at 90 degree angles and work in both directions from that corner, spacing the remaining vertical boards about 1/4 inch apart.
I attached two vertical pieces together using PVC glue.
And on the back I applied polyurethane glue. And that’s where I ran into problems. I mean, my self-confidence completely plummeted from the start. First, I applied a generous amount of polyurethane glue to the back and then attached the piece to the corner of the concrete. But I failed to align the corner PVC pieces on both sides to save my life. So I took it off and then saw that almost no polyurethane adhesive had touched the concrete of any of the pieces. To make it look right on the front section, the side section didn’t even touch the concrete in most areas.
So I took it down and decided to fill it with a ridiculous amount of polyurethane adhesive and try again.
No matter what I did, I couldn’t get the corner piece positioned so that it was plumb both front and side at the same time. I worked and worked and worked, and then I finally gave up. And of course it left a complete mess.
And that was around the time it started raining, and I definitely didn’t want to stick PVC panels on wet concrete, so I called it a day.
And now my confidence in my plan is completely shattered. I honestly thought it would be a quick and easy project, but that’s obviously not the case. And because that corner of the concrete is so wobbly, I don’t think I’ll be able to make baseboards that require me to attach anything to the concrete. I had exactly the same problem when I also tried to design the artificial stone facade. The pieces that wrapped around the corner looked great on the front, but were way off on the side.
So last night after having to stop because of the rain and having to rethink my plan because of the shaky concrete corner, I came in and started looking for other baseboard ideas. I came across this really great YouTube channel called Michael Builds and he has this video about how to create different looks using mortar mix directly on concrete. Using a mortar mix and a few tools, he created a stone look, a stucco look, and a brick look on these concrete blocks.
I think I’m going to change course completely and try this instead. The only problem is that it has to be applied to unpainted concrete. Of course it does. And of course I just painted my concrete. Pooh. But I think I can use my sander and remove the paint pretty quickly and easily. But I think an idea like this is the only way to get around the shaky concrete corner on the porch and have a consistent look from the front to the side of the porch baseboard.
Plus it looks fun and I love trying new things. I’ve never worked with mortar mix before, so it may be another failure, but I think I’ll at least have fun trying it! And to make it easier, instead of trying to match the stone of our house, I’m just going to choose a brick pattern. Once painted I think it will blend well with the stone. I would prefer it if it was clear that it is a different material rather than trying to match the stones and failing.
This is the new plan. Now all I have to do is remove the black paint from the concrete and then wait for another day of nice weather before I can try this new idea.
