Porch Skirting for Antique Home Renovation

Kathie Ward faced the classic dilemma for antique homes – how to keep true to the character of her gorgeous 100-year-old Kentucky house, while also renovating it to meet modern requirements. Her idea? Using Regency Random Rock panels to create beautiful porch skirting.

Porch Skirt for Antique Home Renovation

BEFORE: Modern materials made renovation more affordable, but didn't match the character of the 100-year-old house

“Our house is over 100 years old,” Kathie wrote, enclosing before and after photos of her project “but recently it needed a foundation renovation.”

The beautiful wrap-around porch – a design staple of Kentucky houses from that era – needed some support work to keep it stable. Kathie’s challenge was to complete the work to modern standards; but not spoil the classical look of her charming antique home.

At first glance, it looked like she was left with two unsatisfactory options:

The first was to do the work that needed to be done, and just settle for a modern look and modern materials that appeared completely out-of-place on the front of her historic house.

Porch skirting added to an antique Kentucky home after the foundation was rebuilt — The skirting gave the appearance of a large rock foundation, as would have been common over a century ago.

The second was to go “all out” and complete the renovation to the standards of a century ago. The problem there was one of time and cost. Rebuilding foundations with large rocks and mortar would cost thousands of dollars, and take weeks or more.

Fortunately, Kathie looked a little deeper into her options – and a new idea cropped up.

“Your product was exactly what I was looking for,” Kathie explained. The skirting allowed her to use affordable, modern techniques to rebuild the porch foundation, but still give it a timeless appearance.

Kentucky home's front porch foundation covered in Regency Random Rock panels. — Once installed, the panels perfectly disguised the modern renovation work, and maintained the character of the historic home.

Molded from real rock in tough, waterproof polyurethane, they perfectly resemble the rock walls and stonework that would have been common over a century ago. Another plus point is that they’re totally waterproof and weatherproof – important as Hickman County bore the brunt of flooding and storms last year.

Now that the project is finished, Kathie is thrilled:

“We really love the results! Thank you so much!”

Check out the pictures for yourself. The panels already look like they’ve been there for decades – and they’ll stay looking that good for many years to come.