Hello,
I am trying to figure out how to make a wood-to-concrete seam look half-decent. It is in the stairwell leading to our basement from our backyard. There was an old rotted 2×4 that someone placed over this seam many years back, but I had enough of that and ripped it off today.
My thought was too place a treated 1×4 or 1×6 over it and calk in the gaps. It will also be painted over as I will be re-painting the entire stairwell this spring. But, I’m wondering if I rip some of the wood out of that seam and then attach some chicken wire and cement over it, it may look better than the 1×4 idea. I know I ‘ll have to chip away some of the concrete that was behind the old 2×4, but that’s no problem at all.
All suggestions and comments will be most welcome.
Phillip
P.S. Should have written ‘seam’ not ‘seem’, sorry about that.
Edited 4/21/2008 11:01 pm by PhillipB
Replies
Use trex, no rot ever. Should be cool as long as it is not structural.
Thanks for the suggestion.I had never heard of Trex before. Just found the website. Hope I can find it at Lowe's or HD.I appreciate your time.
You can also get Azek or other PVC trim. Great stuff, made for this job.
Mike HennessyPittsburgh, PA
Mike,Thanks for stopping in.I think I'll fill in the gap with mortar as Dinosaur suggested above. I think it'll look a lot better in the long run.I appreciate your suggestion and time. Take care.Phillip
If you're half-decent with a trowel, I'd suggest you clean out that gap, trim off the concrete crud behind the old board with a masonry disc in your circ, and fill the gap with a patching mortar made for that purpose.
Don't use chicken wire; it's not strong enough to buy you much. There is expanded-metal lathe available which is more appropriate for this application; it comes in 2'x8' pieces. Hold it in place with TapCons backed up by big washers.
You might also want to install galvanised flashing at the edge of the wood; it'll give you a straight line to screed against. Have your local tin guy bend you a piece to fit.
Dinosaur
How now, Mighty Sauron, that thou art not brought
low by this? For thine evil pales before that which
foolish men call Justice....
Man, I just knew I was gonna get it for saying 'chicken wire', and sure enough ...Yes, I know about metal lathe and I'm up to speed on the TapCons as well. What I was not keen on doing was covering that gap with a another board. I just felt that there had to be a better way to do that. So, I agree - I'll rip out some of that crud that's in there, tune up the concrete, slip in the lathe and patch in the mortar as you suggested. Should look a lot better than what we had.I appreciate the help.
If you really want to have fun, get some Iso-Tex textured paint and trowel it on over the finished job like stucco, all the way down the stairwell. Prime any wood areas with MF primer first. The Iso-Tex will stick to bare concrete like white on rice, as long as it's clean.
Dinosaur
How now, Mighty Sauron, that thou art not broughtlow by this? For thine evil pales before that whichfoolish men call Justice....