Low Rent Renaissance

I finished coating the roof. The final mixture was one part cement to two parts of aggregate, plus asphalt emulsion. So each batch included four parts sand, two of cellulose insulation, three of cement. It was easiest, after the dry ingredients tumbled awhile in the mixer, to rake some into a large plastic bowl, add water, and mix by hand (rather than in a bucket with the drill), then add the asphalt emulsion. I would just scoop some asphalt emulsion -- maybe two handfuls --out of the bucket into the bowl of damp mix and knead it until it was evenly distributed. I daubed the stuff on. Thin coats work best. It was pleasant to work with. I used a broken CD as a tool to created the thatched look. The crete lightens as it cures.

Continuing work on the "thatched" roof using an asphalt emulsion mix. Experimenting with staining a couple of efforts at faux bois planters. I've thus far experimented with a commercial dye called Smith's Color Floor, a manganese carbonate/potassium dichromate mixture (I didn't enjoy using this so much because of potential toxicity), and iron and zinc oxide. No need to include muriatic acid in a mix of water and iron or zinc oxide. The oxide stains the concrete without acid. I'm unhappy with the finished product but feel like it's a start. Next plan is to make some "patties" from my mortar mix as described by the great Donald Tucker so that I can practice mixing the various colors of oxide, etc. A great starting point for infomation related to using oxides and other fairly inexpensive substances to stain concrete is here: http://www.stainedfloor.com/ . I purchased my chemicals from various sellers on Ebay. The small pot is made over a b

This so-called gazebo structure is an amalgam of papercrete recipes. In that way it taught me a good bit about papercrete -- the recipes improved over the weeks of layering. But some of the areas first covered are soft, and rain was actually eroding them. I wanted to extend the umbrella roof, creating an eave for aesthetics but also to help keep the rain off those soft sections until I can invest the time to save or re-do them. The roof is made from a picnic table umbrella coated with a latex paint/cement/sand mixture. It seems to be holding up, but I didn’t see how to attach lathe or hardware cloth as an armature for an eave. I wound up using raw burlap soaked in bonding agent, then saturated with crack resistant grout. I was inspired to try this approach by this great website ( http://annesley.wordpress.com/burlap-crete-explained/ ). I could not find the rapid set grout this author writes about, and settled for Quickrete Professional Crack Resistant Grout purchased at L