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Hometalk is where people share and help with everything home & garden

Concrete & Masonry

Concrete & Masonry

947 Followers | 1465 Posts

Concrete & masonry are functional and aesthetic aspects of a house that often need attention. Are you dealing with cracked or crumbling concrete or masonry? You're not alone - plenty of Hometalk members have faced similar challenges with concrete & masonry, and they're here to share their experiences with you. Since there are so many talented concrete and masonry pros on Hometalk, you can browse photos of their work for inspiration for your own concrete or masonry project.



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  • Good landscaping turns your home into a show-stopper.
  • Recycled fence and spindles for potting bench
  • #1 - Use as many free materials in your landscape as you can. Every part of the world has at least one thing in abundance that you can use for free, be it gravel, rocks or stones; wood, pallets or pine needles; dumpsters, landfill sites or Craig's List and Freecycling networks as cheap sources for repurposed items. Find out what's in your own neighbourhood or town and use it!  I've used my local freecycling network to find plants and shrubs for free. I got a whole lilac hedge that way, it really works!!
  • #2 - Beg for plant divisions or cuttings from family, friends and neighbours. Anyone who has perennials , bulbs or tubers will have to be dividing them up every so often and will be happy to let you have the extras.
  • #3 - Look for local gardening clubs, they usually have plant sales once or twice a year to raise money for the club and you can get beautiful plants for much less than gardening centers sell them.  Plus you know they will survive in your climate because the local gardeners have grown them.
  • #4 - Watch for end-of-season sales.  You can pick up loads of plants at a discount from department stores that have seasonal garden centers.  That's where you can pick up your trees and shrubs for less and save big!
  • #5 - Grow your own plants from seed.  Some plants are super simple to grow, you can even just toss the seeds out in your garden at the right time and they'll grow well.  Hardy geraniums, sunflowers and pansies are easy to start from seed.  Poppies and cosmos are good examples of seeds you can just sow directly in the garden.  Opium poppies can even be sown while there is still snow on the garden!
  • #6 - Grow plants that self-seed or spread easily.  Examples are creeping thyme, culinary thyme, Johnny Jump-ups, Ladies' Mantle, campanula, euphorbia, lamium, bugleweed, poppies and bee balm.  I don't quite understand the desire for growing borderline plants in the garden.  I personally don't want to drag some plant kicking and screaming into my garden, I'd much rather have ones that are happily growing and flowering and self-seeding all over.
  • See 5 more photos

6 Ways to Landscape Without Breaking the Budget

I'm back to my first love these days - gardening! I love being in the garden, digging, planting, sowing and enjoying. This house will be the 6th that I've landscaped and because I always ...»
seem to buy houses that have no landscaping, I have learned how to do it on the cheap.

Here are some of my best tips: .

#1 - Use as many free materials in your landscape as you can. Every part of the world has at least one thing in abundance that you can use for free, be it gravel, rocks or stones; wood,pallets or pine needles; dumpsters, landfill sites or Craig's List and Freecycling networks as cheap sources for repurposed items. Find out what's in your own neighbourhood or town and use it! I've used my local freecycling network to find plants and shrubs for free. I got a whole lilac hedge that way, it really works!!

#2 - Beg for plant divisions or cuttings from family, friends and neighbours. Anyone who has perennials , bulbs or tubers will have to be dividing them up every so often and will be happy to let you have the extras.

#3 - Look for local gardening clubs, they usually have plant sales once or twice a year to raise money for the club and you can get beautiful plants for much less than gardening centers sell them. Plus you know they will survive in your climate because the local gardeners have grown them.

#4 - Watch for end-of-season sales. You can pick up loads of plants at a discount from department stores that have seasonal garden centers. That's where you can pick up your trees and shrubs for less and save big!

#5 - Grow your own plants from seed. Some plants are super simple to grow, you can even just toss the seeds out in your garden at the right time and they'll grow well. Hardy geraniums,sunflowers and pansies are easy to start from seed. Poppies and cosmos are good examples of seeds you can just sow directly in the garden. Opium poppies can even be sown while there is still snow on the garden

#6 - Grow plants that self-seed or spread easily. Examples are creeping thyme, culinary thyme, Johnny Jump-ups, Ladies' Mantle, campanula, euphorbia, lamium, bugleweed, poppies and bee balm. I don't quite understand the desire for growing borderline plants in the garden. I personally don't want to drag some plant kicking and screaming into my garden, I'd much rather have ones that are happily growing and flowering and self-seeding all over.

The best part about rampant growers and self-seeders is that every year, you can dig up the extras and sell them at a yard sale to make some extra cash for the landscaping items that you can't get for free.

Hope I've been able to give you at least one tip you can use. Happy gardening!

#landscaping #gardening #Maygarden

Anne @ DesignDreams by Anne
Anne @ DesignDreams by An... Canada 14 hours ago
6 Comments | Post Comment | 194 Views
  • Barb Rosen
    Barb Rosen 1 hour ago
    Anne ~ your house has that wonderful "cottage" look and the plantings and garden accents ...»
    really are icing on the cake!

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  • Dumb Crabgrass!
  • Brick work to the paver work by front door (someday a porch! I want a porch!)
  • shows the old lines from sprinklers
  • Marley always has to be in the middle of everything! She is the best friendlies kitty!
  • Green still from rainin March...flowerbed waiting for a little less rain...
  • Ok here is the sod this year, still working on the flowerbed
  • see my husband's hobby? The 2 red sports cars? hehe side view of the flower bed.
  • See 4 more photos

Front Yard Still in Progress...

I have been overmaking my little tiny patch of a front yard for many years! This last summer though I decided that was it! Tried of trying to remake a lawn and lets put down a new one! ...»

So my younger brother and a helper came and went to work on this. Had to move and replace the ingrown sprinklers, (got a visit from the city months later that someone turned me in for doing sprinklers without a permit but she agreed no problem if REPLACING old to new in same quantity) My other brother helped with the final work of placing the pipes.

So here is when we first dug up the yard...but there was family medical emergency keeping up from being able to finish for about 2 months so this wonderful crab grass kept taking root! even in 100 degree heat with zero water! Guess I should have watered that!

We bought Sod from a local company (not shipped in) cut up and put down in one day! Moved brick from 2 sides of the driveway to a single side to make a nice pathway to the door,

Then last pictures are of what it looks like now...still not complete...I have some more perenials to behind the newly planted Petunias...

Tanya Peterson Felsheim
Tanya Peterson Felsheim Grants Pass, OR 18 hours ago
4 Comments | Post Comment | 136 Views
  • Cyndi Moore Tippett
    Cyndi Moore Tippett 10 hours ago
    Tanya Peterson Felsheim, we had the same thing happen during the last two very distressed ...»
    houses (in good neighborhoods) we have renovated. The one on a busy street, people would ride by to see what we accomplished and one family made it a game to see who in the family could pick out what had changed :) . The one we are doing now is in a cul de sac and we have people constantly coming by to look. I guess they are trying to see who the "crazy people" are that have been working now for 15 straight months on the house that had the leaning chimney. I applaud you for your hard work and creativity. A lot of people won't even try!

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  • Curb Appeal
  • Keeping with our re-use and recycle theme for the party barn - we constructed this rustic outdoor kitchen for the barn pergola patio
  • We started by making the frame from  2 x 4′s – using treated lumber for the bottom
  • We added more of the old barn roof material for siding and trimmed it out to match barn
  • We used the same recycled materials to match the barn - in all -we had less than $100 in the outdoor kitchen area minus the grill of course :)
  • Rustic outdoor kitchen installed and in use.
  • See 2 more photos

Rustic Outdoor Summer Kitchen

(www.oldworldgardenfarms.com )When we first started to put down some initial designs on paper – one thing we didn't want was a typical brick, mortar or stone outdoor kitchen. We wanted ...»
something unique, and we wanted it to match the existing barn and reclaimed brick patio. Even more – we wanted to make it from the left over recycled barn materials we already had on hand. The only other requirement was to make sure we had enough counter space on each side to be able to easily prepare food straight from the garden to the grill.

We finally decided on a simple straight line island design. 14′ long, with a 48″ grill and burner slide-in space in the middle. Each side would then be flanked by 5 foot overhanging counters. We made the width of the counter 34″ to give extra surface room to prepare and serve foods. With limited time before a looming barn party– we opted for a simple wooden top for now to match the farm table – however- as future time allows – we really want to replace with some stained concrete countertops.

THE BUILDING PROCESS

We first built a simple 2 x 4 stud frame, leaving a 48″ space in the middle and front for the grill and burners to slide in. We used treated wood for the bottom to sit on the brick pad – and then built the rest from standard 2x lumber. Next -we encased the inside of the grill area with cement board to protect the structure from the heat of the grill. Then sided the entire structure with more of the left over corrugated roofing and trimmed it out to match the barn.

All that was left was to slide in the grill – attach the top and the outdoor kitchen project was complete!

Jim and Mary - www.oldworldgardenfarms.com

Old World Garden Farms
Old World Garden Farms Newark, OH on Aug 11, 2012
14 Comments | Post Comment | 10985 Views
  • Emma Dorsey
    Emma Dorsey 6 hours ago
    I am also getting ready to make an outdoor kitchen , great job!
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  • This is the pond in front of our house.  Built by previous owners.  Fun, but dirty w/the trees surrounding.
  • Front of house w/large garden in front, and to the side.  Entry gate is to the left of the corner of the house.  Hoping to build deck along the length of house

Outdoor Living: Our Front Yard Pond and Other Projects

We just purchased this house and it has a great 3/4 acre yard with a pond in front. It has a fountain, w/a spray fountain (see white pvc pipe in pic). We like it OK, but it is dirty as it ...»
is under the trees and gets lots of leaves in it. The fountain leaks in back and the water keeps getting lower and lower, probably a hole in the liner somewhere.

So we are thinking of filling in the pond w/small red lava landscaping rock on bottom (lots of this in a garden we are redoing and I dislike it), then river rocks on top w/the fountain still bubbling up in the middle. Any suggestions on how to do this properly so that the water will not leak out, and we don't have to continue to refill the water level? Thanks for any ideas, I live in Wyoming so there is LOTS of snow in the winter and it is only used in the summer months.

Now we are also going to redo the front of the house w/a full length deck (eventually a roof over it). Have some cinder blocks, and thought about using wood decking over them w/the blocks as support. Do we need to place the blocks in sand to level? Or how should we proceed?

Kris Lee
Kris Lee Jackson, WY 5 days ago
19 Comments | Post Comment | 1193 Views
  • Backyard Getaway
    Backyard Getaway 21 hours ago
    The lamp base is such an original idea I love it. The Koi do go dormant in the winter under ...»
    the frozen ice, normally a pond doesn't freeze all the way to the bottom but it is very important that there is a hole in the ice to allow the gases to escape.

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  • Garden Walkway 16

Concrete Garden Path

We made this garden walkway with a mold that we purchased at Lowe's. We mixed the Quickcrete up and then poured it into the mold a section at a time. It was almost like making mud pies. It was a bit time consuming but we were very happy with the end result. It has held up very well as it has been down now for about 3 years.
Karen K
Karen K Jacksonville, FL on Jun 04, 2012
186 Comments | Post Comment | 37720 Views
  • Karen K
    Karen K 13 hours ago
    Hi Joy. The grass just came up between the cracks. I really like the look of the grass between ...»
    the cracks of the stones also. Have fun with it.

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  • Rachel's Blue Moon
  • This is the first time we saw the house, and the after with the painted floor.  We have since replaced the door.

Painted Concrete Floor

I ripped out an old wheelchair ramp and made our mudroom a welcoming place to enter. I used two different colors of paint to make a diamond pattern on the floor. More details (including ...»
how I prepped the concrete) are on my blog.

Also - this is my first post on Hometalk - so if I am doing it wrong...sorry! :)

70 Moderate
Rebekah @ Country Mouse Tales
Rebekah @ Country Mouse T... Etters, PA 7 days ago
6 Comments | Post Comment | 418 Views
  • Rebekah @ Country Mouse Tales
    Rebekah @ Country Mouse T... 21 hours ago
    Hi Doris! I did use a degreaser/etcher on the concrete before I painted it. It all depends on ...»
    how your concrete has been treated in the past (seal, stained, etc).

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  • OUTSIDE
  • DIY Ideas
  • Great projects
  • Our patio went from boring to inviting!
  • This is what our patio looked like after we pulled off the tape. It make a huge difference in this space.
  • We power washed the cement and than filled in the cracks with cement filler.
  • After the cracks were all filled and dried we then primed the patio with mold resistant primer.
  • After the primer dried we painted the patio porch and floor oil paint.This will be the color of the painted lines.
  • After the base color dried we taped off the patio before putting on the final paint color.
  • We painted with the red color over the cream and tape. Once the paint dried we pulled off the tape to create the lines for the tiles.
  • See 4 more photos

How to Paint Patio Tiles!

A few years ago we decided to give our patio a little makeover. We have your normal cement slab patio. We thought the easiest and cheapest way to update our patio was to paint it. So with ...»
a little work and paint we were able to transform our patio into a more inviting space! Please visit my blog for more details: http://keepcalmanddecorate.blogspot.com/2010...

Melissa @ Keep Calm and Decorate
Melissa @ Keep Calm and D... Muncie, IN on May 07, 2013
22 Comments | Post Comment | 7679 Views
  • Sylvia Smothers Lawing
    Sylvia Smothers Lawing Yesterday
    I will be glad to. I just painted the porch railings and shutters -haven' gotten to the floor ...»
    yet. I have four projects going on at once. I am having to work around the rain.

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Stone Foundation Restoration Project

A full restoration of this 1795 home in Bethel, Vermont, is under way.

The building was jacked up and the original stone foundation removed. ...»

A new concrete foundation was poured, leaving a two foot space that we have made look like a dried laid foundation, cementing from the inside and resetting the house upon.

The finale grade will be brought up to the top of the concrete.

Greg Bahr
Greg Bahr Bethel, VT 3 days ago
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  • Outdoor Kitchen After
  • Patio Before
  • Outdoor Patio after
  • Close up of the patio stain color
  • See 1 more photo

Outdoor Kitchen

We got to start this project with a "clean" slate!! There was nothing but a concreate slab, so we didn't have to demo anything for once! We completed this project prior to our indoor ...»
kitchen, which may seem odd, but it was more affordable. We use this space ALL the time in the summer and even a few times throughout the winter.

Concrete Stain: Rust-oleum Concrete Kit (This was the biggest change in the look of the patio)

Kitchen Blocks: Menards

Counter Tops: We helped our contractor pour them, but he completed all the pre-work and the leveling of the tops. I would leave this to the pro's unless you are good with concrete work.

All the steps can parts and pieces used can be found on my blog :)

Elisa
Elisa Naperville, IL 4 days ago
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  • DIY to Try

Fireplace Makeover

We moved into our 1970's ranch last year, and I knew that I immediately wanted to makeover our fireplace. It was covered in an old orangey brick and had 4 ugly black vents on the front. ...»
My husband built me a beautiful fireplace surround, and we love it now! Here is the tutorial of how it did it:http://www.beneathmyheart.net/2012/10/how-to-build-a-fireplace-surround/

Beneath My Heart
Beneath My Heart Wilmore, KY on Oct 28, 2012
1 Comment | Post Comment | 532 Views
  • Elisa
    Elisa 4 days ago
    Looks fabulous!
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