Follow this flip: Porch progress

Well, I have been working on my first flip for a full two weeks now. I’ve been blessed with unseasonably warm temperatures, which has been an absolute Godsend for me because I had a lot of painting to do on the porch ceiling, posts and floor.

Let me show you a little bit of the progress I’ve made so far!

Because of the extent of the weather damage to the wood (and the lack of maintenance for many years), it took a lot of preparation and priming to get the porch restored to its former glory. Here’s a reminder of what the ceiling, posts and floor looked like before:

I started by priming the posts and ceiling with Zinsser® Cover Stain Primer. I had a major issue with wood stain bleed-through and this was the only product that would stop it.

On top of that, I added a coat of Zinsser Peel Stop® Triple Thick High Build Binding Primer. This stuff glues down any pieces of paint that can’t be scraped off and builds the surface up to create a smooth palette for painting. It is a miracle product! (It won’t hide stains, though, so don’t skip the stain-hiding step if you need it.) 😉

For the porch posts and railing, I finished off with two coats of Rust-Oleum® 2x One Coat Solid Stain (in white).

The floor needed slightly different prep. I started by peeling off the old layers of paint using a scraper and really strong paint stripper. I think the product was called Zip-Strip®. All I remember is that it was pretty expensive and required gloves that are chemical resistant. I probably took off a few years of my life working with the stuff. Good thing I was outdoors. 😉

After the peeling paint was removed, I sealed the floor and the remaining stubborn finish with Rust-Oleum Restore® Deck Start Wood Primer. It dries clear and smooths out the floor in preparation for a top coat.

I used Rust-Oleum Restore 10X Advanced Resurfacer in Timberline for the floor.

A couple things about this product:

• It is super thick and textured, which is great for hiding a multitude of sins on wood or concrete floors. Because of the prep I did, I probably would have gone with a thinner, solid stain, so the look and feel of the wood planks would have been maintained.
• It requires the use of a special honeycomb roller, which gives it its unique texture.
• You definitely need a full 24 hours of completely dry weather for this product to dry (48 hours before using the floor). We received an unexpected shower about nine hours after I finished painting and a little bit of the product washed away, so I had to repaint.
• It requires two full coats to get an even finish and a huge amount of product to complete the job. This floor ate up six gallons, people!

In the end, I absolutely love the color and I’ve already received a lot of compliments on it. The finish makes the floor and deck boards look like new and the texture is really cool. But hindsight, I probably would have gone with a solid stain. Save this 10X product for a project where you need seriously thick coverage.

I’ll be getting a few more close up shots of the floor next week when I finish the railing project on the front steps, so you can get a really good look at it then. Plus I’ll show you the like-new posts and an amazing porch ceiling transformation, which includes an unexpected color choice. Stay tuned!

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Special thanks to Rust-Oleum for providing some of the products needed to complete this project.