Another DIY Rock wall (Pics!!)

[oOLaurenOo]

Ok So heres another thread on rock walls. Because there wasn't enough already.

Like so many people before me I was inspired by all the fantastic threads here, I scored a new 4 bay enclosure and though 'Yes! I can do that!!!' Well its been a few days and while I am pretty sure I have done EVERYTHING the hardest possible way, it has still been good fun.

I started off heading to bunnings to see what I could find. Well, just as I was asking for some foam sheets the very nice man who I stopped to ask was unpacking some new mail boxes. Guess what they were packed in.... FOAM SHEETS! So I scored a free box of foam. (Thanks Bunnings) Then I just grabbed about $16 worth of grout (Cream colour) and a few stainless steel strainers (About $1 each, (The ones you use in your sinks) They are for the vents! And with that, off I went.

Now while the foam it is very thin I figured, just glue a whole lot of sheets on top of each other, it will be fine.

... Not as simple as I had originally anticipated, I got a lot of movement which was an issue. (It kept cracking my first couple of layers of grout)

Well... I fixed that issue by not moving it. GENIUS.

Once I had it all glued I carved it out, also a simple process. While I acknowledged that it would be messy I obviously didn't really think about it that much and half an hour later I had white snow all over the house..... THE ENTIRE HOUSE... How? How you ask? Easily apparently...

So once it was carved, and had a couple of layers of grout I grabbed some black paint and very roughly painted in some crevices. It looked dodgy but I figured, once the last layer was on you shouldn't be able to see it, just a SLIGHT colour change (Hopefully) So once that was done, I was thinking about how I was going to seal it.
I was going to go get some of that pond sealer, but then I realised that I have 4 litres of non toxic wood glue. Yes wood glue. Dries clear, water proof, non toxic. Crazy idea you say!
Probably is...
Anyway, sink or swim (Possibly sink) I sealed the bugger up with wood glue.
THEN I applied another layer of grout to see how it stuck to the wood glue. All good on that front so before it dried I grabbed some sand. (Regular sand like from a kids sandpit) and used a sieve to sprinkle it over the grout before it dried.
Now I have no idea how this is going to turn out... I am concerned about cleaning.. It is sealed, and the sand layer is not thick but it will still be more difficult to clean then your regular sealed wall, but I was trying to avoid the 'shiny look'... I figure worst case scenario if I'm having trouble I can always seal it at a later date.

So that was interesting, not to difficult, a bit of fun. After the wall was ready, I cut some holes for the vents which went smoothly... Then I ran into some issues.
The enclosure is white, I want to paint it black. So, I figured I would paint the enclosure first so that when the wall went in, I could touch up the pain, but no risk of getting paint on the wall.
WELL, bad plan. Getting the rock wall in was an interesting experience. I scratched the paint, and while I was filling the edges (No more gaps is the best invention in the whole wide world!) I got grout and sand EVERYWHERE!!!
Long story short, not much point in painting first because now I just have to sand it back and pretty much start again but you know, live and learn.
So the walls in, I've cleaned the edges, still need to repaint that section but I'm not going to bother painting until I have finished the other three rock walls. Well its not done yet, but its been an interesting start! Here are a couple of pics to go with my novel of a post!!!
Just starting.
A couple of layers of grout
Black lines in crevices
Tyson checking out the shelf strength
Started drilling vent holes
Last layer of grout and sand
Its in position!!!


Hopefully all goes well with the rest of the project!!!!

[littlemay]

I'm going to go out on a limb here... but Lauren... Brown?

[oOLaurenOo]

O.o whose asking?

[littlemay]

Haha, Anna, i recognised your dog =p

Nice work with the rock wall, so i suppose your folks must know about the snakeys by now then?

[oOLaurenOo]

Lol nope. That's for the lizards. I have serious issues man! But yea I'm reasonably happy with it for a for a first attempt. Hopefully the next one will be better again!! How snuffles going??

[tyson001]

looks good and btw you dog has the best name. lol.

[oOLaurenOo]

Lol thank you.

[Defective]

That is why I'm glad keikos enclosure has a steel mesh top that I can remove

[sharkyy1o5]

Looking good but i think your doggy's getting a bit jealous! Better start renevating his dog house lol

[oOLaurenOo]

Yea he likes to be involved in the action. Just wants to be part of the team!! He also has a rather flashy dog house that I constructed out of old pallets and a couple of tin sheets. I am normally happy to let him help (otherwise he sulks...) but I had to draw the line when he started to steal the foam and eat it.... Dogs. O.o

[sharkyy1o5]

hahaha! Same here with my dogs. Always willing to help no matter what the job is!!!!! lol

[oOLaurenOo]

Lol yep. Love to help.

[Skelhorn]

awesome, great Design!

[oOLaurenOo]

Ok, so I got a couple more walls started. They are a bit better built then the first one already. I have just sort of been going for gold, no real plan, just trying for a shelf/ledge somewhere on the wall and going from there. I have used the rest of my foam, but still.. Thats three made up, so just need to get some more together to make the last one!
Should be able to start carving them tomorrow!

[oOLaurenOo]

Ok... So messy.... so so messy... But two more are carved out.