One year ago, I embarked on my biggest project yet with adding thin brick to our 225 sq ft porch. During the process, a lot of people told me it wouldn’t hold up; that it would crack, pop up, all the things.

images of comments from people that it won't last

I can’t say how long it will last in all, but I can give a one year update! So let’s get to it!

You can read about the whole process how I DIY’ed our porch with thin brick along with a cost breakdown here. Now let’s get to the nitty gritty details.

How is it holding up?

This is the number one question I receive is that people want to know how it is holding up a year later.

Honestly? It looks EXACTLY the same as the day I finished with DIY’ing it {besides a few more spider webs}. It has held up so well.

When I was in the middle of this project and receiving comments that it wouldn’t last, I got a little nervous that they might be right. I spoke with a few people who did the exact same thing on their porch years before and they said the same thing as I am saying now, it looks the exact same as the day they did it.

It is very important to make sure you are following the steps and doing them correctly, and if you do, it will last.

Would I do it again?

I also get asked if it was worth it. When I think about how much work I put into it, how much time and money spent {even with DIY’ing}, would I do it again?

That is by far one of the easiest questions for me to answer. I can say without a doubt, 100% certainty that I would do it again. In fact, I plan on doing it to the steps in our backyard in the near future.

What would I do differently?

Nobody asked this, but I thought I would throw it in just in case anyone wants to know 😉. Looking back, there isn’t anything big I would do differently. But when I look at one half of the porch, the grout looks different than the other half. Not in terms of color, but the process of how I did it.

I would still use the piping bag and brick jointer {vs. a grout float}, but when I was grouting the first half, I pushed down hard with the brick jointer, causing a little more of a dip than I want. The second half is much more level. But that is okay! The only way to know and learn is to try and practice. And in the end, I am so happy with how it turned out.

Once again, if you want to know how I DIY’ed our porch with thin brick along with a cost breakdown, you can see all the details here.

Have a question about the process? Leave a comment below! In the meantime, I’d love to hear if you would ever do this someone in or out of your house.