Tuesday, October 15, 2013

The Latest + A Question

Lately we've been doing a lot of winter prep around the house. A family is building a home up our road, and when the electric company came to run power lines to their house a number of our trees had to come down to make way for them. We decided to take advantage of the downed trees and split them for our winter cord wood. The largest tree was an Ash, which can be burned immediately without seasoning. In the end our downed ash and birch trees produced about 4-5 cords, which will heat our house and barn workshop through most of the winter after a lot of sawing, splitting, and stacking.










We are also rushing to finish the covered porch before winter. Yesterday Josh built railing sections to install along the edge of the porch and today I gave them a few coats of paint. Below, one of the unpainted sections is propped up for critique. We will install the painted railings after the bluestone has been installed on that part of the porch (hopefully tomorrow).







Our goal for tomorrow is to finish the bluestone on the top of the cement slab and if there's time install the railings. The doors will also go back on.

Question for you all ---

We have been going back and forth on what to do for the concrete block foundation on the front side of the house. It's ugly and needs to be addressed, that's for sure, but the process for adding bluestone to it as a facade is complicated by the fact that the concrete pours over on the top of the blocks (see image above showing the railing on the porch), making the surface very uneven. We would need to do some kind of parging to even out the surface before we could apply the bluestone, and as neither one of us has done plaster work before, let alone the bluestone as a veneer, so we are unsure whether attempting it on our own will be a huge mistake. Hiring someone to do it for us is a very last resort.

And so my question is this: Does anyone know of good options for covering a concrete block foundation that has an uneven surface? I've considered painting (not drastic enough), covering it with a lattice, parging then painting, and parging then adding the bluestone veneer. As info, the section is just along the front side of the house and about 20' long x 7" tall at the shortest end and 14" tall at the other. The fact that it is not the same height all the way across makes it more tricky. I guess we could dig out the lower side or have more gravel dumped on the higher side to even it out, but I am trying to avoid additional projects like this because Josh's head will explode. Anyone ever dealt with this type of foundation successfully? Any tips are appreciated!

13 comments :

  1. How much of the foundation is visible? Is it just on the one side of the house?

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    1. It is about 20' long across the front of the house (maybe a little more) x 7" tall at one end and 14" tall at the other. We are just doing the front side, it doesn't need to wrap around edges.

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  2. I think a ledgerstone veneer would look great (see link). But you may have to level the service first, unless you use a thick coat of mortar on the lower half of the veneer.
    http://img.diynetwork.com/DIY/2009/07/30/BC09_front-yard-02_s4x3_lg.jpg
    My Brother was saying that you could also cover it with pressure treated wood, using concrete screws. . . then cover it or paint it.
    Love watching your house projects! Good luck!

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    1. Suzi -- Our neighbors also mentioned the wood idea just this morning. I hear there is a board that is made of a plastic but looks like wood so you get a decent look without worrying about the thing rotting or insects getting in, etc. Pressure treated could work too...this idea is perhaps the frontrunner right now. Thank you!!

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  3. I like the painted lattice idea, but only of that cottage-y look suits your place.

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  4. I realize this doesn't answer your question entirely, but just a thought after looking at so many pics of your house- what about planting a compact shrub there? Something that will not over grow and need to be trimmed, but will just hide the grey concrete?
    just a thought!
    Your enclosed porch is looking really great!!!!

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    1. Dana -- Good idea! We had talked about that at first, but this spot is right on the drip line from the roof and tons of rain and then large sheets of snow in the winter fall right on this spot. I think anything we plant there would get trashed. I would love so much to make a nice flower bed there, but with these VT winters it just aint happening. Boo!

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  5. that's a fantastic amount of free firewood! Just be careful about burning too much green wood. if it's mixed in with dry and seasoned wood, then it should be OK. But just keep an eye on your stove and chimney. The green stuff can make extra creosote build-up. Your house is coming along beautifully!

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    1. The trees were Ash, which we've been told can be burned immediately. Definitely would not want to risk a chimney fire from the creosote!

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  6. I like the faux wood idea. Maybe you could run a thin cap trim board across the top of it to give it a nice detail.

    What would be completely awesome would be to build a low rock wall that matches your beautiful garden wall you so tirelessly constructed.

    Good luck!

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    1. Jane, we talked about the rock wall, but that area right in front of the house is also a driveway that needs to be plowed often, and with a low rock wall right there it would get in the way. Bummer, because I thought that would look nice too. This is the same reason we don't want to do planting right there...huge heavy sheets of ice falling on it from the roof + plowing around it would get annoying. I'm liking the wood idea best so far!

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  7. I agree with Jane, I think a rock wall similar to the garden wall would be perfect.

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  8. About the block covering, I recommend Quikcrete surface bonding cement. Very forgiving material. Has a fiber reinforcement that disappears within days (don't worry about it as you are applying it). See my house building blog post: http://gravesinindia.com/blog2/2013/09/first-wood-wall-built/

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