We are building a 2 story front porch onto the fron of our colonial
home. The reason it is 2 stories is because it has a walkout basement
in the front. The original owners never built a porch, or even a set
of stairs to get up to the door at the main level of the house. The
porch will have a roof over it, like your typical farmers porch, and
the roof will be cornered at the ends, instead of straight across.

The porch is being built out of pressure treated wood. We live in
Vermont, so tongue & groove decking was pretty much out of the
question. I would like to paint the wooden columns and probably the
railings, but leave the flooring (which is 5/4 inch I believe) wood
colored. I was thinking of staining the flooring so it would be a
cherry color. Any thoughts or advice? I've heard paining the floor is
a pain and will make it slippery. I would rather just stain it if that
is a good option. What are some products I should look into? My fiance
is building the porch, so I get the job of painting/staining it when
its finished.

Thanks a bunch.

Kristen

On 7 Jul 2003 13:35:59 -0700, (kristen) wrote:

We are building a 2 story front porch
[snip]
The porch is being built out of pressure treated wood.
[snip]
I would like to paint the wooden columns and probably the
railings, but leave the flooring (which is 5/4 inch I believe) wood
colored. I was thinking of staining the flooring so it would be a
cherry color. Any thoughts or advice? I've heard paining the floor is
a pain and will make it slippery. I would rather just stain it if that
is a good option. What are some products I should look into?
[snip]

Use a good quality deck stain on the floor. Ask at a real paint store,
Benjamin Moore, Sherwin Williams, etc., not at Home Depot, Lowes or
their ilk. The folks at the paint store will also help you with paint
for the rest of the porch. I'd use a latex paint (gloss or semi-gloss)
over an alkyd primer. There are paints and methods of painting an
exterior floor that'll hold up and not be slippery (e.g., use floor
paint and add sand to the paint) but among other problems paint tends
to wear with foot traffic and is generally more difficult to re-do
than stain.

--
Luke