What Can Cover a Cement Porch That Is Deteriorating?

Concrete

• Resurface your deteriorating cement porch with polymer-based cement resurfacer. The product consists of Portland cement mixed with high-performing polymers. Mix the product with water and use a trowel to apply a oat approximately 1/16th of an inch thick. A 20-pound bag will resurface around 50 to 60 square feet of porch. Work rapidly to prevent the resurfacer from drying out before you finish, and do the job on a warm, dry day of between 70 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit with low humidity. Test the surface temperature of the porch, which should be around 50 F when you resurface it.

Bricks

• Make an attractive brick-paved porch to cover your deteriorating cement floor. Fill the potholes with premixed cement and allow it to dry. Spread a layer of mortar half an inch thick on the concrete surface, and press the bricks into it, starting with the outer edges to ensure even laying. Leave a gap of 3/8 of an inch between bricks for mortar to rise up and secure them.

Wood

• Build a wooden deck over the porch. You can either build it completely independent of the existing porch, by sinking posts into the ground around the porch, or you can attach side and center beams to the cement porch using metal footplates and sleeve anchors and lay the slats across them. You may need to obtain a permit if the deck is going to be larger than the existing porch.

Vinyl, PVC and Aluminum

• These materials make excellent decking and installation is very similar to that for a wooden deck. PVC decking is made from solid-core cellular PVC and is fade, stain and mold resistant. The material looks like hardwood but does not crack, splinter, warp or decay and comes in tongue and groove porch boards in various lengths. It is simple to install and requires no pre-drilling. Vinyl and powder-coated aluminum decking are also on salel ready to install.