# Another DIY Rock wall (Pics!!)



## oOLaurenOo (Jun 30, 2012)

Ok So heres another thread on rock walls. Because there wasn't enough already. 

Like so many people before me I was inspired by all the fantastic threads here, I scored a new 4 bay enclosure and though 'Yes! I can do that!!!' Well its been a few days and while I am pretty sure I have done EVERYTHING the hardest possible way, it has still been good fun.

I started off heading to bunnings to see what I could find. Well, just as I was asking for some foam sheets the very nice man who I stopped to ask was unpacking some new mail boxes. Guess what they were packed in.... FOAM SHEETS! So I scored a free box of foam. (Thanks Bunnings) Then I just grabbed about $16 worth of grout (Cream colour) and a few stainless steel strainers (About $1 each, (The ones you use in your sinks) They are for the vents! And with that, off I went. 

Now while the foam it is very thin I figured, just glue a whole lot of sheets on top of each other, it will be fine.

... Not as simple as I had originally anticipated, I got a lot of movement which was an issue. (It kept cracking my first couple of layers of grout)

Well... I fixed that issue by not moving it. GENIUS. 

Once I had it all glued I carved it out, also a simple process. While I acknowledged that it would be messy I obviously didn't really think about it that much and half an hour later I had white snow all over the house..... THE ENTIRE HOUSE... How? How you ask? Easily apparently...

So once it was carved, and had a couple of layers of grout I grabbed some black paint and very roughly painted in some crevices. It looked dodgy but I figured, once the last layer was on you shouldn't be able to see it, just a SLIGHT colour change (Hopefully) So once that was done, I was thinking about how I was going to seal it. 
I was going to go get some of that pond sealer, but then I realised that I have 4 litres of non toxic wood glue. Yes wood glue. Dries clear, water proof, non toxic. Crazy idea you say! 
Probably is... 
Anyway, sink or swim (Possibly sink) I sealed the bugger up with wood glue. 
THEN I applied another layer of grout to see how it stuck to the wood glue. All good on that front so before it dried I grabbed some sand. (Regular sand like from a kids sandpit) and used a sieve to sprinkle it over the grout before it dried. 
Now I have no idea how this is going to turn out... I am concerned about cleaning.. It is sealed, and the sand layer is not thick but it will still be more difficult to clean then your regular sealed wall, but I was trying to avoid the 'shiny look'... I figure worst case scenario if I'm having trouble I can always seal it at a later date.

So that was interesting, not to difficult, a bit of fun. After the wall was ready, I cut some holes for the vents which went smoothly... Then I ran into some issues. 
The enclosure is white, I want to paint it black. So, I figured I would paint the enclosure first so that when the wall went in, I could touch up the pain, but no risk of getting paint on the wall. 
WELL, bad plan. Getting the rock wall in was an interesting experience. I scratched the paint, and while I was filling the edges (No more gaps is the best invention in the whole wide world!) I got grout and sand EVERYWHERE!!! 
Long story short, not much point in painting first because now I just have to sand it back and pretty much start again but you know, live and learn. 
So the walls in, I've cleaned the edges, still need to repaint that section but I'm not going to bother painting until I have finished the other three rock walls. Well its not done yet, but its been an interesting start! Here are a couple of pics to go with my novel of a post!!!

Just starting.

A couple of layers of grout

Black lines in crevices 

Tyson checking out the shelf strength 

Started drilling vent holes

Last layer of grout and sand

Its in position!!! 


Hopefully all goes well with the rest of the project!!!!


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## littlemay (Jun 30, 2012)

I'm going to go out on a limb here... but Lauren... Brown?


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## oOLaurenOo (Jun 30, 2012)

whose asking?


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## littlemay (Jun 30, 2012)

Haha, Anna, i recognised your dog =p

Nice work with the rock wall, so i suppose your folks must know about the snakeys by now then?


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## oOLaurenOo (Jun 30, 2012)

Lol nope. That's for the lizards. I have serious issues man! But yea I'm reasonably happy with it for a for a first attempt. Hopefully the next one will be better again!! How snuffles going??


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## tyson001 (Jul 1, 2012)

looks good and btw you dog has the best name. lol.


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## oOLaurenOo (Jul 1, 2012)

Lol thank you.


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## Defective (Jul 1, 2012)

That is why I'm glad keikos enclosure has a steel mesh top that I can remove


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## sharky (Jul 1, 2012)

Looking good but i think your doggy's getting a bit jealous! Better start renevating his dog house lol :lol:


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## oOLaurenOo (Jul 1, 2012)

Yea he likes to be involved in the action. Just wants to be part of the team!! He also has a rather flashy dog house that I constructed out of old pallets and a couple of tin sheets. I am normally happy to let him help (otherwise he sulks...) but I had to draw the line when he started to steal the foam and eat it.... Dogs.


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## sharky (Jul 1, 2012)

hahaha! Same here with my dogs. Always willing to help no matter what the job is!!!!! lol


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## oOLaurenOo (Jul 1, 2012)

Lol yep. Love to help.


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## Skelhorn (Jul 1, 2012)

awesome, great Design!


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## oOLaurenOo (Jul 1, 2012)

Ok, so I got a couple more walls started. They are a bit better built then the first one already. I have just sort of been going for gold, no real plan, just trying for a shelf/ledge somewhere on the wall and going from there. I have used the rest of my foam, but still.. Thats three made up, so just need to get some more together to make the last one! 
Should be able to start carving them tomorrow!


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## oOLaurenOo (Jul 5, 2012)

Ok... So messy.... so so messy... But two more are carved out.


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## oOLaurenOo (Jul 19, 2012)

Got three out of four rock walls in position!! Mixed up some paint and painted two of the walls. (Forgot to get picks, will get some in the next couple of days.) Basically I just mixed the Sologuard outdoor 'rock effect' paint. (White) with some red, yellow and black and went for gold. Because the paint wasn't mixed properly it came out different shades. I think it looks ok! Will post some pics of the painted walls soon.


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## oOLaurenOo (Aug 19, 2012)

Getting there!!! Just need to make some more light cages, mount the fluro tubes, and waiting on my heat mats and thermostats to come through!!


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## Marzzy (Aug 19, 2012)

I liked it before you painted it. It popped more and blended with the background maybe painted the inside and left the wood grain, good job though wish I had some $$$ need some wood = P


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## oOLaurenOo (Aug 20, 2012)

Yea I prefere the black, but the wood did look good. Once the lights are hooked up it will stand out alot more though.


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## Justdragons (Aug 20, 2012)

nice bank, looking good.


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## oOLaurenOo (Aug 21, 2012)

Crappy photos but one of the bays is half wired up. Well, all of them are but I need plugs for the end of the leads... and Im still waiting on heat mats and thermostats... But looking pretty snazzy. I ended up getting some thin sheets of aluminium and lining the front of the fluro light cage so you don't see the fluro. I think it looks good because it matches the silver vents.  Not that you can se in this photo, but you get the idea!


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## Darksolja (Sep 4, 2012)

Hi Lauren 

I have experimented with trying to create a really strong rock face but I always managed to break a small bit off or manage to place my finger straight through it.

But there is a solution. Fire. I used a portable blow torch that plumbers use to heat pipe fittings. I basically singed the first cm of Styrofoam. The end result is a very hard and unbreakable object before the grout and sealer go on. 

I have made rocks that I can stand on without causing cracks and breaks in the grout which is awesome! 

Singeing Styrofoam is toxic – should be done a well-ventilated area with face protection. PLEASE. 

Don’t melt the foam – this will become worse than melting sugar … sticky and very painful 

Trying to paint nontoxic wood glue on a finish that had detailed painting is useless in my case because it starts to drag the paint with it. I’m looking for a solution that I can spray on without it running – my next thing to try is pond sealer with a spray gun and compressor – lots of light coats 

The wood glue does give it a shiny look that I’m trying to overcome – I really like the idea of using sand over the top to give it grip as well as textured appearance – have you found a solution to getting rid of the shine?

To make the grout sealable before applying a particular sealer on it I used some Bondcrete (looks like wood glue) mixed with the grout when painting on the first couple of layers. This does create a sealed yet non-shiny surface – but I haven’t used this method inside terrariums 

I hope this isn’t too much – and I hope it can be used safely – please guys be careful when singeing the foam if you decide to use it this way


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## thomasssss (Sep 4, 2012)

darksolja - few tips 

render cement , so much stronger than grout and you wont have to burn the foam before hand , grout isnt really very strong and cant compare to cement in anyway really , i to stood on a small hide i made with no braking or cracking 

forget about wood glue or anything else as a sealer , just get some pondtite or cromelin(spelling) pondsealer the trick to stop it spreading the paint around with it is to dab the first few layers on and not wipe with a painting motion , its the draging that spreads the paint around


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## Badass_Beardies (Sep 4, 2012)

very nice work!


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## Darksolja (Sep 4, 2012)

Thomassssss - thanks 

I haven’t worked with it before so I’m unfamiliar with the texture - might have to give it a go …. Thanks for info – much appreciated


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## Lord-Doom (Sep 26, 2012)

Nice background! You've probably finished it by now but if not there's an easy way to improve the depth/3D effect via highlight and shade.

Mix black acrylic paint diluted with heaps of water (a "wash" of only about 10%-20% paint) and apply liberally over the whole surface.

While still wet, roughly wipe the high surfaces with a rag, the dark paint flows into the depressions and crevices where you leave it to dry.

The wiped off areas create highlight and all the cracks low bits stay dark, so a lot more contrast and realism. It would have to be re-sealed again however.


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## oOLaurenOo (Sep 26, 2012)

Thats a great idea! I kind of suck with the artistic side of things... I have finished it unfortunately, but will defiantly give that a go with my next project. Heres what it looked like once completed.


Its not perfect, but I'm pretty happy with it for my first go..... 

Heres a pic of a turtle tank rock wall I'm making. It has drift wood attached into it. Horrible photo though unfortunately...


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## Vivendus (Sep 27, 2012)

looks fantastic! heaps of useful ideas everywhere.


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## Skitzmixer (Sep 28, 2012)

wow that looks amazing! I dont think you suck on the artist side of things, i wish i could do something like that!


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## Stuart (Sep 28, 2012)

Skitzmixer said:


> wow that looks amazing! I dont think you suck on the artist side of things, i wish i could do something like that!



+1. If I could do something like that I would be pretty chuffed with myself! At the moment im still progressing from the chalk to the crayons in terms of having any artistic qualities


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## Variety (Sep 28, 2012)

Wow i never knew that home jobs could like so nice, deffinatly going to give one a go next time!


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## oOLaurenOo (Sep 28, 2012)

Thanks guys!  I love DIYs!! Great fun. I'm glad you like them. I'm particularly excited about my turtle tank. Can't wait till its all set up!!


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## CaptainRatbag (Sep 28, 2012)

Looks great.... well done

I am about to start on my stand up pine coffin, with a skeleton wearing a tux inside and a glass front to put my coastal in :shock::lol: I want to put red led's in the eye sockets and a pir sensor on the front, so when someone walks past in the dark, it scares the poop out of them :lol:


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## oOLaurenOo (Sep 28, 2012)

Yea.. that would scare the 'poop' out of me. lol. Fantastic idea though


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