Title_II wrote:How long did that take? I'm thinking you polished and lacquered sheets and sawed them up. What did you really do?
I thought I had explained it,,,,, albeit the simplified version.
The actual laying of the blocks was however challenging to say the least.
Because I wanted a "rustic" look, but at the same time pretty level, caused me some headaches because the 3 x 3 inch lengths were left as rough sawn and air dried, they were not all identical size.
The two different types of timber shrunk at different rates when drying.
So when it came to glueing them down, it was a bit like building a wall with rough tumbled bricks.
You had to allow for differing size blocks,,,, but keep an overall set line.
First step I undertook was figuring the finished depth of the blocks and base, and then set the level when pouring the concrete floor.
This had to be done carefully so that the finished surface of the blocks matched the adjoining rooms that had standard concrete floors with carpet or linoleum.
Once the "sunken" concrete floor was finished, then I screwed 8' x 5' sheets of marine grade particle board onto the concrete using HD wall plugs.
Then I loose laid all the blocks in the (staggered pattern width ways and set pattern length ways) which ends up giving a diagonal pattern.
Then I sprayed them with white ant water based chemical.
Next I turned them all over, and repeated the spray.
Then I started to glue all the blocks (individually) onto the particle board.
After all blocks were glued down, I applied the special grout mix that I made. That was quite a lot because the blocks were 30 mm deep.
When the grout had cured I then hired an industrial drum sander and sanded the entire surface area in three differing directions.
Starting with really coarse, and working down to ultra fine grits.
Even tho I worked in differing directions, I found that the Redgum was much softer than the Blackwood, and as a result I accidentally produced slightly rounded edges on the blocks that ended up like the cobble stone look you can see in the pics, which I liked.
Then I applied by roller 4 coats of a clear hard wearing gloss.
Many,, Many hours of work, and at one stage I almost gave up and thought seriously about just putting carpet on top.
But as soon as the 1st coat went down, the colours and grain really came to life and made it all worth while.
I do not fear death itself... Only its inopportune timing!
I've come to realize that,,,,, the two most loving, loyal, and trustworthy females in my entire life were both canines.
by » 12 Nov 2015, 4:29 pm
