Ask the Builder: Have fun with exterior tile or natural stone

I just returned from an eight-day trip to southern California. The purpose was to visit my youngest daughter and several dear friends. The weather was excellent, and although I knew about the June gloom, I discovered there’s also the May gray. The sun heats the high desert east of the Los Angeles basin causing air to rise. This movement pulls moist marine air eastward. This marine layer blocks the morning sun.

It had been a few years since I’d been to this part of our great nation. I traveled alone, giving my wife a break from me being around the house here 24/7/365. She calls these adventures little-man self-discovery trips.

If you’re a traveler, one of the first things you notice is that other people and cultures do things differently. I’ve always encouraged my children to travel to open their eyes to what’s possible about all things.

Here’s an example. One of my friends owns a condominium on the shore of the Pacific Ocean. It’s a very large building and he wanted to show me how the residents access the beach.

We traveled down a series of staircases and concrete paths cut into the cliff above the roiling ocean surf. Just above the beach there was an outdoor shower and concrete slab with a storm drain. Festive ceramic tile created a border around the dull storm drain. This same tile was also set into the wall below the shower head.

The colorful tiles caught my eye and immediately made me smile. I think you’d agree that it’s impossible to have enough happiness in your day. Stop and think about how you can incorporate colorful things in any number of your outdoor facades or horizontal hard surfaces.

You can install colorful tile or natural stone in concrete patios, sidewalks, and driveways. Exterior stone medallions are also possible. Search online and you’ll discover in seconds a vast array of medallions. My favorite ones are those that have a compass rose. Using a real compass, you can install your new medallion so it points to the cardinal compass directions.

Don’t hesitate to use simple natural stone inlays. Thin pieces of granite can be purchased with ease at many big box retailers. Slate is another good choice. You can use these to create stripes or borders in concrete flatwork.

If you’re having trouble visualizing this, jump online and search for photographs of what material you’d like to use. I typed “granite border concrete patio” into the search engine I use. I then selected the Images link and was overwhelmed with the creativity of others who have used granite to make a dull concrete surface come alive.

Don’t discount exterior clay paving brick. Purchase bricks that are rated for severe weathering and they can create an eye-catching border for a sidewalk, patio, or driveway. Your concrete mason just has to adjust his forms to create the lowered platform so the finished brick is flush with the adjacent concrete.

If you decide to do this, be sure you incorporate reinforcing steel rods in the concrete. I recommend creating a grid pattern with the 1/2-inch bars set at 2 feet on center in both directions. The steel needs to have a minimum of 1.5 inches of concrete under them. Do not just lay the steel on the compacted earth and pour over it.

Tear a page from a few talented teenager graffiti experts’ playbooks. Think of how colorful spray-painted graffiti on retaining walls, bridge abutments, railroad boxcars, etc. grabs your attention when you drive past the artwork. What’s stopping you from hanging some colorful item on your outdoor fence or the rear of your home?

You might purchase an old stained-glass window at a garage sale. The frame may just need to be repainted to make it look great. You can hang this on an exterior wall or fence just as you hang a painting or mirror inside your home.

Attach a piece of cement board to a wooden frame. Install colorful ceramic tile over the cement board. Once again, get inspiration from photos you see online. You’ll be stunned by what others have already done.

The best part is you can often do this without cutting any tile. You just need to lay out the tile on a flat surface to determine your exterior dimensions. Nothing about this is hard. There are numerous videos online, including my set of four step-by-step videos, that show you how to grout tile.

Have some fun. Think outside the box. Do quirky online searches like “ceramic tile on exterior walls” or “tile inset into concrete” or “colorful tile inlays”. You’ll be stunned by what you see. Be sure to send me photos of your completed projects!

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