Fake concrete over existing wall…again
About once a year a client gets a look at some nice looking contemporary fireplace made from concrete, concrete tiles, or whathaveyou. This time they don’t mind a rather rough random troweled surface, so once again it’s one I haven’t faked before.
Anyone have a favorite? I’m thinking a couple scratch coats of modified thinset since it would hold up well on the corners, which are in a high traffic area. It’s about as smooth as lava rock, but if the stuff is not tough the corners will quickly chip for sure. If the look right out of the bag isn’t right it’s hard to change so I’m guessing it might come down to mixing up thinset from scratch to have more control of the agregate and color variables. I donno.
The picture is what we’re after, but the gas insert framing has already been incorporated into some structural framing and there is little room for anything other than 1/2″ hardi covered with a trowel applied finish. Essentially we want something that resembles a concrete monolith.
Good building!
Beer was created so carpenters wouldn’t rule the world.
Replies
I first skimmed the wall with modified quicksetting thinset thinking it's going to stick to anything and everything and resist chiping at the corners. It looks good and was surprisingly easy to skim on with a small trowel but working time could have been longer. The random shades brought out by hand troweling looked good.
Then I skimmed some nonmodified thinset for a lighter color. The clients liked the random hand troweled look.
Then I used some modified floor leveler for a color inbetween the two above and since the agregate is smaller the finish was much more smooth. This is the one the clients liked the best, but want to add a little brown to it.
Now that I've gone through all of those variations, in the future I think I'll just use the floor leveler since it's easier to apply with a finer texture.
Beer was created so carpenters wouldn't rule the world.