This was a project that I have been wanting to do for over a year now. We had a few people come look at it, and were told that the stairs couldn’t be raised, and the best option might be to just tear it out and re-pour the steps…
Which was NOT in our budget.
Our front porch had sunken significantly, which makes sense being that the house is over 80 years old, but it had about a 4 inch sink to it.
It honestly looked a little like a haunted house.
There was also carpet on the stairs, and side planters when we moved in. It was rotted and so gross. I didn’t get a before photo with the carpet, and wish I would have.
IT WAS GLUED ON.
So when I tore it out, it left behind a bunch of black and yellow glue stains all over the concrete. It was so gross.
We were waiting on the windows to show up for the bathroom remodel, so this porch was a great side project until we could move forward with the bathroom remodel. The windows ended up coming about 2.5 weeks into the porch remodel, and are still sitting in my living room…. its fine haha.
The whole porch makeover project took just over a month. We had a lot of setbacks along the way, which I will detail out and explain a little more in later posts.
There was so many different parts to this porch makeover it was just too much to detail out in one post. This porch makeover will be a 6 part series between blog and youtube. Here is the Youtube video if you would like to watch the process all at once:
porch makeover part 1: Re-plaster
For part one I am going to explain how I re-plastered the sides, and planters on the porch. I will also break down how much it cost me to do, with tool links if you are wanting to try it yourself.
Lets dive in!
Materials for re-plastering the sides/ foundation
- Pressure washer
- Outdoor cleaner
- Pump garden sprayer
- Expanding foam
- small hack saw or box knife ( even a steak knife would work:)
- Paint scraper
- Foundation Plaster
- Trowel
- Drywall hawk
- Bucket for mixing
- Cement Paddle mixer for drill
- Small triangle trowel for smaller areas
- Grouting sponge
- Concrete sealer/ primer
- Foam roller
- Concrete paint- Optional
Step 1: Fixing gaps with expanding foam
Our porch had settled A LOT. There was about a 4 inch drop and lots of loose rocks, and cracked cement in the way.
I decided to use THIS foam to fill in the areas that were gapped. It worked great because it expands up to 3 inches, which was perfect. I sprayed it in all over the places that had gaps, and then let it cure. It took a day to be all the way cured.
Then, after it had cured, I used a small hack saw to cut the foam to be flush with the walls and edges of the planters it was sitting on. I had lots of pieces and debris after so I had to vacuum up all the crumbs with my shop vac before moving on.
Step 2: Prepping the area
This is one of the most important parts of the process to make sure that everything stays after all of your hard work.
If it isn’t prepped right, its not going to last….
I started by scraping the paint. My old stucco house had lots of peeling paint from older paint jobs, and it was in rough shape.
I used a paint scraper I love. Its easy to use, actually works, and even better…. the blades are replaceable and cheap.
*make sure that if you are scraping paint, you wear a mask, as it might be lead paint if your home is older.
I then pressure washed the entire thing. Once I got the paint off, there was a ton of algae, and mold that had been hiding out under the paint. I don’t own a pressure washer, but I borrowed one from a friend, who did.
You can also rent these at rental equipment places, or Home Depot / Lowes often have rental programs.
I love pressure washing.
It was so satisfying, and really made a huge difference overall.
After everything was pressure washed and scraped, it was time to make sure that mold was dead.
I used an outdoor cleaner in a garden spray container to make sure I applied it everywhere. Then rinsed it.
Make sure everything dries, and there isn’t any loose concrete, dirt, rocks, or paint chips anywhere before moving on.
If there is, remove those things first, and rinse again if needed.
Step 3: Mixing the foundation plaster
I chose this material since it is made to go over existing foundations, and can be layered as needed. I thought using a product specific for that would give me the best adhesion overall.
I mixed it according to the instructions on the bag the best I could, but I couldn’t mix the whole thing in a bucket, and carry it. So I tried to do half the bag. *
I added some water to the bucket first, and then added in the powder, and topped it with the rest of the water to try and prevent getting clumps stuck to the bottom of the bucket.
I attached the cement paddle mixer to my drill, and mixed it until all clumps and bumps were gone.
It suggested about 5 minutes.
*The first time I mixed it, I added a little too much water, which resulted in it being to runny. This made it hard to use.
When trying to trowel it up the wall, it would fall off, or run down because it wasn’t thick enough.
So I decided to add more powder.
I added it in and used the paddle mixer again to mix it really well.
I mixed it until it would hold upside down on my trowel when inverted.
This was perfect.
It held to the wall so much better, and was easier to scoop. I would say it has the consistency of thick peanut butter or wet sand that you would build a sand castle with.
Step 4: Applying the plaster
Applying the plaster was something that took a little bit of trial and error to figure out.
First you will need to wet the surface you are applying it to a little. Not a crazy amount. You can use a mister nozzle on a hose, or a spray bottle. I just used my hose, and lightly wetted it, but made sure it wasn’t dripping wet when I started.
I scooped the material out of the bucket with a plastic cup and dumped it onto my drywall hawk.
From there, I used the trowel and pushed the plaster material up the side of the wall from the trowel applying it in a layer about 1/4 in thick. I worked from the bottom to the top smoothing out edges as I went.
I angled the trowel at a 45 degree angle with the bottom edge touching, as to not catch the top edge in the plaster on the subsequent passes.
I had to play around with it a little to get the best pressure, and overall thickness. I had to reload the trowel several times for one pass, as the area I was doing was pretty tall, and needed a lot of plaster.
I ended up doing two coats in the areas that were really sunken and uneven. In between coats you need to let it dry all the way through, then re- mist it before the second coat application.
The cool thing about this foundation plaster is the texture of it. It does not have rocks in it like other cement, and just has a very fine sand. It is essentially stucco, and other stores like Lowes actually have a similar product called Foundation plaster stucco mix. It is finish coat quality, so it really can be troweled smooth. I am not a pro at this, so I definitely had a lot of trowel marks after I was done applying, not matter how hard I tried not to have them, which was fine because I figured it out in the next step.
Step 5: Finishing texture
I am not sure if this is a standard practice with this material, but after trying and trying to get it as smooth as I could, and STILL having trowel marks in the plaster, this is what I found to work.
After you apply the plaster as smooth as you can, you will need to let it dry to about 75%. You will know if it is this dry when touched it doesn’t move away easily. It shouldn’t leave a fingerprint indent when touched.
You will then get a bucket, fill it with water, and get your grouting sponge. I dipped the sponge in the bucket of water, and then squeezed out most of the water until it was damp, but not dripping.
I then used the sponge to gently buff out any trowel marks in a circular motion on the plaster.
DON’T PUSH HARD.
Just use gentle pressure, and rinse the sponge often. It will get built up with plaster gunk, and you will need that bucket of water to rinse it out.
When doing this step, you will see small grains of sand start to rise to the surface. This is normal. You just have to be careful not to overwork it. If you do, those grains of sand will get piled up in your sponge, and actually start to leave marks in the surface, like a piece of sand paper would.
This method was great for edges especially, and helped round out the harsh lines there, giving it a softer look that matched the rest of the exterior of my house.
Step 6: Sealing
After you let the plaster dry completely the next step is to seal it. It will take at least 24 hours to be completely dry. You will know. It will get lighter in color, and feel like concrete when it is dry.
I actually really liked the color that it dried to. It dried very light. I know that some stucco mixes can be colored ( this one said something about it on the bag too) and that helps them dry to the color you want. If this is what you do, you could just seal it with a clear concrete sealer. This is just to prevent any water damage that may result in cracking, and to extend the life of the concrete.
I chose to seal it with a white concrete sealer and then paint it with a white concrete paint. I wanted it to blend in with the wall that it butted up against to give it a more seamless look.
I used a foam roller and just rolled it on. I did 2 coats. I AM OBSESSED with foam paint rollers. It is my go to roller for every single project. I actually can’t even remember the last time I used a large regular roller.
AND that is it for plaster!
It took several days to complete, but overall it was the one thing that made the biggest impact on the porch. It made it look new again, and changed the sunken shape of the planters and sides. I can’t wait to tackle other areas on the outside of the house that need it as well.
Below is the cost breakdown. I have been doing DIY projects for almost 13 years. When that happens you start to accumulate “stuff.” It seems like we buy a new tool with each project still as something always seems to pop up, but having all of these tools on hand really does help bring the overall cost down. I try to do things as inexpensively as I can, while still having it be high quality. Below I will show the costs for each item I paid and for the items I already had I sourced the best prices I could find on amazon. I think its helpful to see stuff like this to know what you are getting yourself into.
cost breakdown for part 1
| Item | # | $ | Had already |
| Foundation plaster | 2 bags | $40.82 | |
| Drywall Hawk | 1 | $15.68 | X |
| Trowel | 1 | $16.88 | X |
| Triangle Trowel | 1 | $11.99 | X |
| Grouting Sponge | 1 | $5.77 | X |
| Bucket | 1 | $4.48 | X |
| Expanding Foam | 4 | $32.72 | |
| Hack Saw | 1 | $12.99 | X |
| Outdoor Cleaner & pump | 1 | $48.98 | X |
| Cordless Drill ( I love dewalt) | 1 | $99.00 | X |
| Cement Paddle Mixer | 1 | $14.27 | X |
| Concrete Sealer | 1 gallon | $15.80 | |
| Foam roller | 10- pack | $10.99 | X |
| paint scraper | 1 | $6.50 | X |
| TOTAL COSTS: I had materials on hand already so I will show what it would cost to do this from scratch and what I ended up paying based on tools I had. | $336.87 | I paid: $89.34 |
This is definitely not a beginner DIY project, but I have never done masonry work before and I was able to figure it out… which means anyone can do it! Just takes a little patience, research, and hard work.
Next up will be part 2 of the porch makeover which is re-finishing the screen door.
Hope this helps if you are wanting to try it! Let me know if you have questions below.
See part 2 of this makeover here.
-Amanda