"gluing" stone

[Jerry In Maine]

if you've ever lived in maine you'd know how ironic it is to have to buy rock. there's rock everywhere - just not the kind i wanted, so i went to a landscaping company and bought a pallet of nice flat footstones used for walkways. these will stack nicely on the ledges and edges of my liner, but i need to stack them up a bit to hide the 70 gal stock tank of my skippy filter. the tank is buried about a foot down to lower it but still, i'm going to have to stack some rock up to the point where it might get a bit tippy near my skippy.

thought of using the insulating foam-in-a-can and putting a dallop on a rock then stacking another on top - trying not to let too much foam squirt out so that its visible. if so it could be trimmed. i just need enough strength to help support the facade a bit, and i've never seen anything more sticky than expanding foam.

home depot sell a masonry cement in a tube you appply with a caulking gun, but with the stone being irregular in shape it might take quite a bit in order to get a good bond, and a big pile of goop might take a long time to cure.

i realize i could use mortar but don't think i need to go to that extent to get a little stability.

any ideas?

 

[sissy]

The foam should work and if it comes out the front no difference as gunk will cover it and it will all blend in any way /Just like the other spray foam go easy because it sure does expand fast and keeps expanding some for at least an hour or more .So go easy on it and wear gloves and keep extra gloves on hand .I found the best thing for spray foam is the spray gun that you can buy to put on the top of the spray foam can .I bought one and I think it was around 8 dollars and gives you better control of the spray and does not clog like the one that comes on the can .Buying it saves head aches and aggravation ,those spray ones that come on the can are a waste of time and sometimes hard to use .

 

[JohnHuff]

How about mud, soil or clay, nature's way?

 

[Jerry In Maine]

How about mud, soil or clay, nature's way?

wish that were possible, but the soil here is very sandy. not enough clay in it for it to be "sticky" when wet.

 

[sissy]

With water pouring over it would not last long .If you look at even cement structures that have water running over them they get pitted and start to degrade .I had a concrete fountain in NJ at my house and after only 5 years you could see that it was starting to show a lot of wear .

 

[Waterbug]

Virtually any goop will work to some degree. Polyurethane, epoxy, silicone, tar, any outdoor rated glue, double sided tape.

It's a very common attribute in DIY to look past tried and true methods and look for more complex and expensive methods thinking they're simpler and cheaper.

Mortar is used by professionals because it can last for decades, can be repaired, is easier to work with, and is cheaper. Being able to change and repair structures is often ignored by DIY, it's assumed the resulting structure will be perfect and no one will ever want to change it. Unfortunately most people think mortar is more difficult to work with but it's actually easier. The most import step is preparing the rock surface...which is also just as true for all the goops.

 

[Jerry In Maine]

with the canned foam i figured i could fuss with the rock until i got it looking the way i wanted, then once done i could insert the application tube in the cracks and inject a shot of foam. it then would expand, gluing the rocks to themselves as well as to the stock tank that they're hiding. a can is just 4 bucks or so.

if i had a bigger job i'd go with the mortar.

 

[brandonsdad02]

What about planting some tall grasses? Thats what we hid our stock tank with. By mid summer, you couldn't even see it anymore.

 

[Jerry In Maine]

What about planting some tall grasses? Thats what we hid our stock tank with. By mid summer, you couldn't even see it anymore.

that would be the easier (and cheaper!) idea, but we have a shorter growing season up here in maine than folks do further south. whatever was planted would have to be something that shot up soon as the snow melted and hung on until late fall.

 

[addy1]

I used the foam to anchor some rocks here and there in my build that stuff sticks and sticks well. One thing I found out, one rock fell in the water, slid right off, it and the goop was wet, stuck it back on, it stuck like glue lol. It seems the moisture helped it stick, I had been fussing with that rock more than I wanted to.

 

[Jerry In Maine]

I used the foam to anchor some rocks here and there in my build that stuff sticks and sticks well. One thing I found out, one rock fell in the water, slid right off, it and the goop was wet, stuck it back on, it stuck like glue lol. It seems the moisture helped it stick, I had been fussing with that rock more than I wanted to.

makes sense
its moisture in the air that makes the foam cure. its similar to the "gorilla glue" adhesive. the instructions on the glue say to moisten parts to be joined because it hastens the curing process.

 

[smcox1]

Use the foam for ponds its black and should blend in.

 

[Waterbug]

with the canned foam i figured i could fuss with the rock until i got it looking the way i wanted, then once done i could insert the application tube in the cracks and inject a shot of foam. it then would expand, gluing the rocks to themselves as well as to the stock tank that they're hiding. a can is just 4 bucks or so.

if i had a bigger job i'd go with the mortar.

I think it's an individual thing. You could do the whole job with foam and be very happy with the result. For me I find it very hard to control and makes a big mess. Plus, I know me. In a few months or a year I'm going to want to change something. Foam is impossible to get of rock while mortar is pretty easy.

Only way to learn is to do. And like you say, it's just $4. Pretty cheap lesson no matter the outcome..

 

[JohnHuff]

that would be the easier (and cheaper!) idea, but we have a shorter growing season up here in maine than folks do further south. whatever was planted would have to be something that shot up soon as the snow melted and hung on until late fall.

How about fake/plastic tall grass?