Refinishing porch

[Salty]

Hey all, I'm looking for suggestions on a refinishing project.
This is our front porch, about 6 foot square. It was badly weathered and the cement was worn away from the stones. Last year I tried to apply a resurfacing cement but it has flaked off in several places.
I was considering laying some thin ceramic or stone tile on the surface. Would that be a bad idea? I would of course find something that has a rough surface. I'd also like to put the same on the 2 steps. I'll be replacing the walk later and get rid of the ugly crack you see there.
LOML keeps saying she wants that stone surface applied and I am resisting. Mainly because of the cost involved.
Any and all help and advise is welcome.

Thanks.

Salty

[DUD]

I believe that if You clean it off good, put in another patch, and then paint with the

paint for a garage floor, it would look good. Bill

[Hellrazor]

Beware: Painting a cement porch makes it slippery. Use some of that anti-skid granules in the paint.

[crokett]

What did you use to resurface it that is flaking off? How thick did you apply it? They make concrete resurfacers - I used one on my chimney/hearth and it is still there.

I would get off as much paint as you can and rough up the surface to give it tooth, then apply another resurfacer that you color when you mix it. Then you never have to paint it again.

[Salty]

The resurfacer was supposed to work for feather to 1/2" thick. Although I don't see how you could apply it that thick because you had to mix it fairly sloppy and apply it with a squeegy. I think I got it applied to about 1/4" thick.

Before I did, I also scrubbed and scraped it with a wire brush. I was confident that I had all the bad stuff off of it.

Now that I think of it, it may have been the product. Can that stuff go bad if it gets old sitting on the shelf. I got it at a local ace hrdware store. The reason I now consider that fact is that I recently returned a can of exterior Ben-More that I paid $17 for. I wanted to get a good paint. Well, after 3 days the paint was still tacky. When I returned it the clerk said it may have been that the tint base was old as they had switched to a new label and the one I had was an older one. That's great! Sell the old defective stuff first. I've about had it with that store.
I'm not sure resurfacing it again would look good. The edges get ragged. Painting it would also be a problem because I broomed it to give it a rough surface.

[Hellrazor]

Use a roller made for painting cinderblock.