Terri Ramsey Beavers When I moved to my apartment, I weighed the pros and cons of the move. I knew before I moved in that one of the things I was going to have to address was the wet concrete on my back porch. The first time I saw my apartment, it was the thing that stood out the most. It was a beautiful breezy hot summer day, yet the concrete was wet. On my next visit, it was still wet. Even after moving in, my concrete remained wet in the back. It’s fine in the front.
If I were to take a guess, I would have to say that I think they added way too much water to the concrete mixture when laying on my back porch. I’ve been here 3 years and it’s still wet. But I’m not a carpenter and that’s just a guess.
Since moving in, I’ve googled everything I could think of to see why my concrete was staying wet and what to do about it and I decided early on that the best thing for me to do would be to lay down tiles of some sort. A rug would just get soaked and not help in the least little bit.
The hunt was on to read reviews and find out which outdoor tiles would hold up for years to come, which is how I ended up finding some Ikea interlocking floor tiles. I knew I’d be out back a lot, grilling out, having my morning coffee, sipping on some afternoon tea, and just basically sitting out there while my pets play. I”m surrounded by woods, and I really enjoy watching the wildlife, especially the deer.
I started putting a little money aside, here and there, until I had enough to buy all of the tiles I’d need for my D.I.Y. Ikea Interlocking Floor Tiles project.
Then came the hard part. There were several different options to chose from and I’m terrible about making a decision. It takes days if not months to decide when I have more than one option to choose from. But alas, I decided on a dark gray color.
After I chose which tiles I wanted, I placed my order and painted my door trim. I’d been wanting to do that since I moved in and I decided I didn’t want to wait any longer. My helper for the day was Chelsea. Can you see how ugly and wet my concrete porch is from the photo? If not, just wait.
Once my trim was dried, I waited on my tiles to arrive. I ordered 10 boxes and I ended up having enough left over to give my mom some for her walkway. There are 9 tiles in each box. 1 square foot each.
But let’s get back to my lovely new porch. As you can tell from the color, I selected a dark gray called RUNNEN. I couldn’t find the tiles on sale so I did have to spend $19.99 per pack and at 10 packs, I ended up paying $200 total for the tiles. Knowing that the tiles will last forever helped me decide that it was an investment I wanted to make. After all, I don’t plan to move again.
Now, the best part about these tiles is that they interlock. If you can do a puzzle, you can D.I.Y. your back porch with outdoor flooring tiles as well. It took me mere minutes to do my entire porch. I thought it was going to be an hour or longer project so I was pleasantly surprised by the quickness of completing this. I’ve never done anything like this before and if I’d known it would be this easy, I’d have tackled this much sooner.
Can you see how the tiles interlock? I swapped each tile in opposite directions and they fit perfectly. And beautifully if I do say so myself.
Moving right along.
Until every single tile was in place. Minus one that my SIL is going to have to cut for me to fit around a pillar. I am 100% satisfied with how my porch turned out. I’m now ready to spend hours outdoors enjoying the fresh air, scented plants, and wildlife.
Are you ready for the before and after photos? I still need to repaint my doors. That’s on my to-do list.
My before photo is below and let’s just say, I hate even looking at this wet mess.
After. I’m in love with the look. It’s crazy how much a little money and a good product can change the appearance of something.
I bought the 3 trellis planters for some jasmine vines. I bought the trellis planters online and I spent $54 each on them. If you wait and buy them during the winter off-season months as I did, you can get them about half off. If I’m not mistaken, I bought these at the end of December or the beginning of January. When I priced them before moving into my apartment, they were running around $118 each.
I decided not to plant directly in them because I knew that I could make them last longer if I used a removable planter instead. I bought some plastic tub containers at Dollar General for next to nothing and now I can cut the vines back in the winter and move the plants inside without dragging the trellis planters indoors.
I want the vines to cover the trellis to give me some afternoon shade but more importantly, to provide the scent I’m craving on my back porch. Scented plants give me such a homey and cozy feeling and that’s because I grew up with a mom who had a green thumb and she always had scented plants everywhere.
A year later… THE CONS: My pets are in and out all day and dirt gets in between the tiles. I’m constantly either pulling them up to sweep or vacuum in between and underneath and trying to keep the tiles clean is ridiculously hard. It requires mopping every few days.
My verdict is that I would not buy these again for this particular project. The tiles would be perfect for a balcony but it’s not the best choice for my needs.
I don’t know what I need to address my wet concrete, but this is not it. I absolutely love the look of the tiles, but they’re not the solution for the area I bought them for.
I will keep you updated as I continue to search for a better alternative.