This porch baseboard project has been a long process, but yesterday I finally got around to attaching the faux concrete blocks I made to the porch baseboard. I’m not quite halfway there at the front, but I’m pretty close to the halfway point. This is what it looks like so far…
This is what the base area looked like when I started work yesterday. I had used my hand sander to sand the concrete on the baseboard about halfway up the front. I still had the rest to sand down, but I was too excited to start installing the faux concrete blocks, so I decided to get started. But before I attach the rest of the bricks, I still need to sand the rest of the front to make sure all the paint is removed and any ridges in the concrete are gone.
I used Rapid Set Mortar Mix to attach the artificial stone facade. And let me tell you, the name “Rapid Set” is true in advertising. The stuff hardens very quickly, so I mixed it in very small quantities. Once it starts to harden, you can’t add more water and try to thin it out and make it workable again. Once it starts to harden, all you have to do is throw away any leftovers and start a new batch.
I mixed such small amounts at a time that I used this 4 quart bucket from Home Depot and mixed the mortar with a hand mixer.
When making the faux stones, I learned the hard way that it is imperative to add the water to the bucket first and then slowly mix in the concrete or mortar mix. The ratio for the mortar mix is about 1 part water to 4 or 5 parts mortar mix. I found that one quart of mortar mix and one cup (8 ounces) of water worked really well for me. Since I mixed the mortar in the carport and then carried it to the porch each time, by the time I mixed it, I had walked to the porch, prepped the stone and the area on the porch where the stone would go, and was ready to butter the back of the stone so it was the perfect consistency.
To grease the backs of the faux bricks, I used this 6″ x 2″ trowel from Home Depot.
But before I even started mixing the mortar for the stones, I first filled the concrete on the porch. Parging simply means that you apply a very thin layer of mortar to the concrete. The purpose is to fill any holes and cracks and smooth out any problem areas. First, I sprayed the area with water and then actually used my hands to spread a very thin layer of mortar mix over the concrete (which I found was much easier and quicker than trying to use a trowel in such a small area). Below you can see the difference between the patched area and the area where the original concrete is located. You can still see the aggregate in the section that hasn’t been parsed yet, but you can’t see any aggregate in the parred section.
When I was ready to attach the stones, I actually worked from top to bottom. I know this probably seems counterintuitive, but the reason I did this is because these blocks that the fascias attach to are all the same height and are all flat. This made it much easier to just push the top row of bricks against these blocks as a starting point and then work your way down from there.
If I had started at the bottom and worked my way up, it would have been more of a guessing game, because that ridge at the bottom isn’t flat at all.
But because the mortar hardens so quickly, working from top to bottom was no problem at all. So here is the process I used. After sanding and smoothing the area with my hand sander, I mixed up a small amount of mortar. Then I used my handy tank water sprayer…
Then I just sprayed on the section for the next stone…
And then I sprayed the back of the stone too…
Then I used the trowel to coat the back of the stone with the mortar mixture and pressed it against the baseboard. I gave it a good wiggle back and forth and pressed hard to make sure the whole thing made contact. I then added my spacers (cut from 1/2 inch plywood) and secured the stone in place.
In less than ten minutes I was able to remove the spacers and brace. This mortar mixture hardens so quickly. Once I got the bucket out, cleaned my trowel, and mixed my next batch of mortar, I was able to remove all of the spacers and bracing on the stone that I had just installed.
I got this far yesterday because I had to spend part of my work day yesterday going to Home Depot to pick up all the materials. I was hoping to do this on Wednesday so I would have more time to work yesterday, but that didn’t work out.
And throughout the entire process, I had my map on my phone so I could make sure the tiles were placed in the correct order.
You can see that I have two very small sections that don’t have any rock on them yet, and if you look at the map above you’ll notice that they are two areas with asterisks, meaning I need to cut rocks to fit in those areas.
One thing I learned the hard way is that I can only mix the amount of mortar for one brick at a time because it cures so quickly. It’s a little annoying, but once I butter the back of a stone, get it in place, and attach the spacers and braces, the remaining mortar is already too thick. I tried using the leftover mortar mix on this stone and the result was that the stone was further away from the concrete than the stones around it.
When the mortar is freshly mixed, it has a very nice, workable consistency that allows the stone to be pressed into place and the mortar to be squeezed out the sides of the stone. But once it gets too thick, the mortar stops oozing out the sides. That’s why I couldn’t press this stone onto the concrete as hard as the ones around it.
It’s not a big deal. Once I have mortared the spaces between the stones, I don’t think it will be noticeable anymore. But I learned my lesson the hard way. I mix a new small amount of mortar for each individual stone. This makes the process slower, but the result is much better.
So that’s the progress so far. I’m really excited to see how it turns out! I’ll work on it over the weekend and we’ll see how far I get by Monday. I have high hopes that I can finish it, but I’m keeping that goal very loose. Once I get to the crooked corner and have to connect the stones on the front to the ones on the side of the porch, I expect to encounter a challenge that may slow me down quite a bit. But I’m determined to find out. I’m too excited about the progress to let a possible future problem get in the way.
I mean, can we just take a minute and remember that I DID THIS? I made these artificial stones from scratch. I made the textured silicone mats from the stones of our house…
I built the molds to fit around the silicone mats…
I cast every single stone out of concrete…
And it turned out they looked almost exactly like the original stones on our house…
And now here they are on our porch…
My whole plan is actually working! Is there anything more satisfying than having a big plan (and one that probably sounds pretty crazy to most people) and seeing it actually come to fruition? Few things can compare to this feeling of satisfaction.
