Casting concrete thresholds & sills
I want to cast some concrete and I’ve been checking out old brick buildings with (stone ?) thresholds and sills. Are those cast or cut from stone?
For a modern “cut from stone” look can I mix concrete with out the pea gravel? Just sand and cement? In the end I wouldn’t want any aggregate showing, even after years of wear.
Replies
Typically the old sills were stone.
I'd add the aggregate to the mix.
When you pour the sills aggitate the the sides very well.
This brings the fat up and out to the edges
so the aggregate doesn't show.
Use whatever color you want on the outside, with very small or no aggregate. Vibrate well, and pack it tight against the side of the forms. Then fill in the back with a mix made with pea gravel. Vibrate and pack tight in form.
I worked in a place that made architechal stone, and that is how they did it. Most of the stone they made was with limestone on the outside.
Was it right here at the website, or in the magazine, that Taunton showed exactly this being done, in all its wonderful detail?
I recall it as being in the past 12 months or so. Keep looking. I think it was exactly what you are after.
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"A stripe is just as real as a dadgummed flower."
Gene Davis 1920-1985
Here's an audio + slide show on casting a concrete sill
http://www.taunton.com/CMS/uploadedimages/Images/Homebuilding/Audio/louwsma/
It partners with this article on a cherry door
http://www.taunton.com/finehomebuilding/how-to/articles/build-a-cherry-entry-door-with-weatherproof-threshold.aspx?nterms=61994,62256&ac=tsra=fp
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Looks like he used a mix of just cement, sand and reinforcement fibers. I wonder what the cement/sand ratio was?Finally a use for my outdated sawzall!
Indiana limestone is still available and looks great. As an oolitic stone it hardens over time.
Jeff