Got home late last night but had just barely enough time to mix some mud and out it on. The last 2 coats I put 2 batches on, tonight I only had time for 1 batch... but also I'm getting closer so thick here, none there kind of thing and needing to check it to know which is which slows me down a lot. Probably 1 more rough coat before I'm ready to smoother coat the whole thing. After I finished, I went in and showed, had a late dinner, realized I left my phone and speaker outside so I grabbed them...shit it's raining again! Cover it up. Lots of rain......
I still need to put a shelf on the front and I learned yesterday the final design in not complete. I thought it was a simple stucco finish, but maybe leave the hearth bricks exposed.....now there is talk of trim or stucco more or the brick or cut some of the travertine paver stones and face the hearth opening with that, maybe the same on the woodbow below.....I can't build what's not designed......
If this is of any interest I'm not using plain mortar for any of this work. The stucco up on the dome is: 1 80lb mortar mix 1cu vermiculite Some portland... like about a shovel 1/2 bag midgrade ($15/bag) thinset
This is over the 2"of insulation which we didn't want to crush and the vermiculite makes the mix about 1/2 normal mortar weight. The extra Portland is to stick the vermiculite together as bag mixes only have what's needs to stick the stuff in the bag, the thinset makes it sticky. The dome gone 2 layers of this.
Next on the dome was the fiberglass mesh stuck this high grade ($25/bag) thinset. That stuff is STITCKY! and sticks the mesh right down.....I'm pretty sure it's also mostly waterproof, it just loaded with latex and looks and feels more like plastic than cement when its dry. Knocking on the dome it sounds hollow....there is about about an inch of masonry over that insulation but its low density....unexpected sound the first time I knocked on it
The stuff I'm using now is 180lb mortar mix 1/4 bag midgrade thinset 1/3 gallon bonding agent
The first 2 were my brother's mixed, this one is mine.....I love stuff that comes in a bottle, he prefers bags and using more thinset or a higher grade would probably give a similar result....but this stuff is nice to work with. It sticks and stays on spreads smoothly without cracking like straight mortar does when you push it about.
In the smooth coat I'll use a full gallon of the latex stuff to make it more water resistant and to be sure it sticks to the thinset on the dome which is pretty smooth....the thinset didn't really hold the sponge texture and self leveled to that smooth plasticky finish.
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