The Porch That Stole Christmas *Updated Times Two!*

I have not been idle. In fact, I've been so busy, I've had no time to write. But I've made progress on my Task List:

I'm in the middle of the biggest time suck ever -- refinishing the porch tiles (mine are terra cotta, sometimes called, "Mexican pavers"). I had to make myself stop today so I could shop for Christmas. Every stage of this project has taken five or six times as long as I expected. First, you vacuum, sweep, and clean the tiles with a mild detergent. Not so bad, two or three hours. Then, for days, you use paint stripper to loosen old sealer, scrape and scrub the sealer off, and wipe any excess off with mineral spirits or paint thinner (more on that, later). Then, scrubbing with muriatic acid to "etch" the tiles, to make them more porous for stain. That took only a couple of hours, but the porch needed a day to dry before the next step, finally, applying the concrete stain (Behr Semi-Transparent Concrete Stain, Tuscan Gold color). And then it took five hours yesterday just to apply one coat of stain. But the tiles need two coats of stain, then two coats of sealer (Behr Wet-Look Sealer).

If I kept going, I'd be working on the porch all through Christmas. On the other hand, you need to finish a project like this as quickly as possible: It's very disruptive to have the front door and porch either unavailable or covered in sheets. And, you have to keep the surface clean for each coat of stain and sealer. The longer you wait, the more dirt and mud gets tracked in. I decided that I would stain, then seal, just the section that goes from the sidewalk to the front door, and leave the rest of the porch for later. So today I put a second coat on the tiles that lead to the front door. That took only an hour, and tomorrow and the next day (Christmas Eve), I'll put the two coats of sealer on that section of porch. It will be easier to keep the rest of the porch clean, so I can take a little more time to finish.

I did encounter one problem. The paint stripper said to use mineral spirits to clean excess stripper off the tiles. I had at least a half can of mineral spirits in my garage, so I started with that. Also, because the tiles are not flat, I could not scrape all the old sealer off; I needed to use the mineral spirits and a scrub pad to get more of the sealer off. Still, not everything came off, the tiles had a mottled look, but I didn't mind, I thought it gave character to the tiles. The problem was when I ran out of mineral spirits, went to Home Depot to buy more, and was told California no longer allows the sale of mineral spirits, and the only substitute is paint thinner.

As it turns out, though, paint thinner is much better at removing old sealer. So there's a difference between the tiles that were scrubbed using mineral spirits and those that were scrubbed with paint thinner:

Can you tell which tiles were scrubbed with paint thinner?

The stain does help smooth the difference, but it's still there, taunting me. I'll add before and after pictures after I finish the whole porch.

Update, December 24, 2017: Yes, it's Christmas Eve and I'm still obsessing over the porch. I had planned to put two coats of sealer on yesterday and today, but I just didn't like the stain color. It came out too orange-y. So I bought another color stain (Behr Semi-Transparent Concrete Stain, Sunbaked Clay color), which I dabbed on over the "gold" stain with a wash cloth. (I practiced first on some extra tiles I have.) I was even singing to myself -- in my head, because it would sound really stupid out loud -- "Dip a little, dab a little, dip a little, dab a little, Dip, dip, dip, dab a lot, dab a little more."

Here's some before and after pictures:

Before

After

The pictures were taken from different sides (one looking toward the door, the other looking out the door), and the colors are a bit off -- the before was actually even more orange-y, and the after is actually not quite as dark as the picture shows). But I really, really like the new color. And, crossed fingers, I think it's going to help smooth out the difference between the mineral-spirit and paint-thinner tiles.

I still have to do a second coat of Tuscan Gold/Orange on the rest of the porch, before I dab the Sunbaked Clay on, because it has to match the small section I've been working on (path from door to walkway), which already had two coats of Gold before I got the idea to add another color. However, when I get to the back patios, I can do just one coat of the Gold, and one of the Clay.

Finished project pictures still to come.

Update January 1, 2018: Finished the porch surface (sides still to go).

Before (washed, but not stripped)

After

The top stain layer (sand dabbing) did a really nice job of  smoothing out the differences in the tile colors.

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Before the porch project, in November, I took the back patio apart and re-set the bricks. It's kind of bare back there, now, but I want to start planting and fixing, and the patio needed re-setting first. This patio is behind a detached garage. The area is about 20' x 20'. You can't see this space from the house, so it's always been a little neglected. For a while, I used it for a vegetable garden, then thought it might make a nice patio.

Before

After

The difference is not dramatic, except at the front, which doesn't show in the before picture. The bricks are a little straighter, the sand underneath had shifted, so the patio floor was not level. It's still not perfectly level, but it's a lot better than it was. And with rugs on top, it looks even straighter. In Lowe's or Home Depot, I saw rubber patio base panels you can place down first, for under the bricks or tiles, to make the patio even straighter, but I was worried that might impede drainage. Right now, there's plenty of space between the bricks for rain to soak in.