Over the weekend I continued my outdoor projects, mostly focusing on finishing the steps outside the side door of my studio. I completed these steps (mostly) last week. I built the steps using retaining wall blocks that served as risers and concrete pavers that served as steps.
At this point the steps looked like this…
I was happy with the overall look, but they weren’t finished yet. First I had to figure out how to deal with that last row of pavers on the top step. My calculation didn’t quite add up (shocking, I know! ), so these pavers were about 3/8″ taller than the doorstep. Obviously that wouldn’t work because it would be a tripping hazard for anyone coming through that door.
My second problem with the steps is that the colors weren’t right. Because I had to use locally available materials of very specific heights and thicknesses to get the final height of the steps just right (or close to right, as was the case), my choice of colors for the retaining wall blocks was very limited. But I wasn’t deterred because I’m going to paint everything, including retaining wall blocks.
So while I was still trying to figure out the problem with the last row of pavers, I set about painting the risers. For these I used the exact same paint and paint that I used on our house – Sherwin Williams Duration Semi-Gloss Exterior Paint in the color Mindful Gray. Since half of the front of our house is stone and this paint has held up amazingly well on that stone over the years, I was confident it would work well on these retaining wall blocks as well. Here you can see the gray painted risers compared to the original color…
I used an old brush to apply the paint because I knew these retaining wall blocks were so rough that they would destroy a nice brush. And when I first applied the paint it kind of lay on top and looked a little funky, but as it dried it soaked into the rough surface and dried with a much more natural look. In other words, it didn’t have the plastic-coated look that latex paints can often give a painted surface. Maybe you can see what I’m talking about in the photo below. When I took this picture I had just finished painting the block on the side of the middle row at the front of the stairs (furthest from the house). You can see that the wet paint looks more like it’s laying on the stone, but if you compare it to the row above you can see how it soaks in as it dries, giving it a more natural look.
When I finished painting the risers, I knew how I wanted to solve the problem of the last row of pavers. I started by cutting them all to fit the space using a combination of my wet tile saw and my handheld grinder with a concrete cutting wheel so that the pavers would fit around the door’s trim, trim and sill. However, to avoid the risk of tripping, I rounded the edge with a concrete grinding wheel on my hand grinder. You will also see that I left about a 1/4 inch gap between the pavers and the edge of the door sill. While I caulked the cracks where the pavers met the trim and trim, I left that space open where the pavers met the sill.
This is the grinding wheel I used to create this curve on the pavers and it made a very quick job of shaping these pavers. I bought it at Home Depot.
Here is my thought process on why I left the 1/4 inch gap open between the last row of pavers and the door sill. When it rains (and it rains very heavily here in Central Texas), I expect the rain to run off the steps away from the house because the steps are on a concrete slab that is slightly higher on the house side and slightly lower on the driveway side. But since the top step is slightly higher than the threshold, if I sealed that gap, water would get trapped there, and depending on the intensity of the rain, there would be a risk of water filling that threshold. But this gap allows water to escape, filter through the gravel and the gaps between the pavers and at the bottom of the steps, as none of it is waterproofed. We’ll see if it works the next time it rains heavily, but in my opinion it makes sense that it will be fine.
Since I want the water to escape and not get trapped in the steps, I have not caulked or sealed the pavers inside the structure. But I caulk the cracks between the pavers on every visible part of the steps. To do this, I used my favorite latex sealant – DAP Alex Fast Dry – and wiped off any excess with a damp rag. This process was similar to grouting tiles, but with caulk instead of grout.
Again, I only sealed the pavers that show on the finished steps, and I didn’t seal the cracks between the blocks I used for the risers because I want the water to be able to escape and not get trapped inside when it rains.
After the pavers were caulked and dried, I primed the steps with my favorite primer – a shellac-based primer from Zinsser. And I simply applied the primer with a brush so I could be sure to get the primer into all the rough areas.
I’ve been racking my brain over what products I should use to paint these pavers. I made three trips to Home Depot to purchase products and two trips to return products before coming to my final decision. I’ll tell you all about it once I’ve painted the steps, and I’ll tell you why I ended up with the products I ultimately chose. But for now, that’s progress. I only need to take one more step in this whole process before that happens complete complete. And even though the final stages won’t be white, I have to admit that I kind of like the white. When I finished priming them all and stepped back to look at them, I actually wondered if I should have chosen white as the final color. But I think it would be a nightmare to make the white steps look clean, so I’m sticking with my color decision.
But as I said, I’ll share with you the products (and colors) I ultimately chose once I’ve painted and finished these steps, and I’ll tell you why I ultimately chose these products over the others (e.g. the ones I made two trips to Home Depot to return). But finally, here’s a look at the top step with the rounded edge from the door of my studio.
Hopefully I’ll be able to get these steps painted today so I can show you the completely finished steps tomorrow.
