Ted looks on at his new porch and walkout. He’s got the rocking chair picked out in his head. The banjo needs re-stringing but he’s almost retired and restringing a banjo doesn’t take a long time. Nope it doesn’t take long at all.
He called us in fall of 2020 to come and take a look at his porch and walkout. He knew it had served it’s time. He just wasn’t sure what was going to take it’s place. It’s a tricky thing settling on a design. Especially something so permanent and visible. I guess that’s why designers are in business.
After talking through a concept and figuring out a budget we got the ball rolling on nailing down the material. We were adamant on using solid stone steps. Visit a cathedral and chances are the steps are solid stone. The less mortar the better. Mother Nature is harsh in Ontario. Salt and freeze thaw destroys veneer steps and masonry at grade. Even the most well designed mortared masonry at grade will always have its work cut out and eventually need repair. It’s a fact of owning a property in Canada. I always say – the secret to long lasting masonry is build it in Rome.
We used banas slate grey for the steps and walkout. Banas stone comes from India and yet it’s still cost effective. The wall stone is eramosa tiger stripe. The cap stone is 4” buff Indiana limestone. The brick is meridian brushtex. We used brick on the inside wall to add some warmth. The original Rubble stone (from credit valley perhaps) that we reclaimed from the old wall was used to line the side of the walkout along with landscaping in the back yard. steelirish done a great job on fabricating and installing the railing.
