Friday, June 9, 2017

Cement Work

Alright - here's another snazzy topic. Let's talk about cement.

You may (but probably don't) remember that when we were working on our half bath last year, we found out that the cause of a regular leak was a huge hole in the cement on the side of the house. Because we're in a row house, you have to climb into our neighbor's yard to see the problem, so we had no idea until our contractor got up on the fence to take a look. We knew that it wasn't smart to finish the room without fixing the hole first, but put it off until now.

the outside of the mudroom - the major crack causing leaks

As is always true with every project we tackle, once we have a contractor out to look at something, we decide that it makes sense to add on on a couple other at the same time. Under the mudroom floor, we noticed that a huge chunk of concrete had fallen loose, making us concerned about the stability of the structure. There were also a bunch of other spots with cracks in the front and back porches, plus when we put in the new stairs, they ran right on top of the cement border for the flower beds. So, sure enough, one small patch turned into a much bigger project.


under the mudroom floor - a huge chunk has fallen down

looking down the new back steps - stepping right onto the flower bed

big cracks across the front steps

a big crack on the ceiling of the back porch

It took a while to find the right type of company to do this kind of work, and then to wait until the weather was warm enough to do it. Then, we finally got scheduled and they got to work. It took a couple days, but now everything looks amazing. We're struggling not to add more to the project, because the fixed up spots make everything else look so much worse now.

Day 1: they sand down the front porch and fill in the cracks

Day 2: They cover the front porch with a thin coat of cement

The front steps get a smooth coat too - no more cracks

filling in the crack on the back porch

rounding the curb at the bottom of the steps

and of course - fixing the actual hole that started this project

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