2
0
To the sweat drop down… alright, alright, ya’ll get the picture.
To those who’ve hung on for this long, thank you for tuning back in to see what chaos I have in store for you today! To all who are first-time readers.. welcome to the shit show!
I’ve mentioned in a previous post that my fiancé Ryan & I are cracking down on getting the lower level/basement of our house finished. Up until maybe a year or so ago, it consisted of studs, a laundry room, and a place to throw our shit (not actual shit, but Christmas décor, and other miscellaneous items). Since updating, we now have our master bedroom down there, a living room, and our laundry room that is slowly turning into a bathroom! We’ve certainly capitalized off the (now) year we’ve been locked down for the pandemic, and I’m excited to share some of the projects we’ve undertaken with you, especially if you (like us) are ballin’ on a budget.
We have a pellet stove in the lower level of our house which is our primary heating source during the cold winter months. The area behind it had been comprised of four pieces of cement board, which Ryan had put up five years ago. He spent a considerable amount of time trying to figure out what to do with that area, but he had a fantastic idea one day, and we set out to make it happen.
His idea was to create a decorative rock wall. At first, I questioned the cost of it and how it would be done (see? There’s those annoying little questions I told you I’m responsible for in the building process). However, we found cost effective ways of gettin’ it done. (For those who are going to take on this project and don’t have cement board up, you’ll want to do that before you do anything. Here’s a link to the exact one Ryan screwed in, & he bought 4 boards in total. Ryan also framed in the cement board to give the rock wall a finished look.)
We then went to a local beach to collect rocks. ***IMPORTANT NOTE. Please check your local laws BEFORE doing this, because I don’t want any of you cuties getting arrested for stealing rocks or trespassing or any of the above.
ONCE YOU’VE CONFIRMED THAT YOU ARE NOT DOING ANYTHING ILLEGAL..
We picked out the ones we thought were very unusual in appearance because we thought that would add to the individuality of the final product. Another important side note: take rocks of ALL sizes, as you’ll use the pebbles to fill in the smaller spaces in between the larger stones. Take several empty buckets with you to fill up, depending on the size of the wall you’re going to be decorating. We used Home Depot buckets for transport.
This next step is important and I advise strongly against skipping it, unless you want your house to smell like a fish market for the foreseeable future. THE ROCKS YOU’VE COLLECTED WILL NEED TO BE CLEANED. Thoroughly. Do not just rinse them off with the ol’ house and say “yolo”. We laid the rocks out on our deck and hosed them down, then took an empty plastic tote and filled it with Dawn Dish Soap & hot water. We soaked them overnight, then completed that process again, because we all know how sand doesn’t like to leave anything without a fight.
Once the rocks are clean, you’ll want them to be completely dry before working with them. We laid down several large beach towels in front of our pellet stove, laid the rocks out on top of them, and had the pellet stove running until all the stones were completely dry. You can lay them out in front of a fan or whichever way works for you to dry yours, just make sure they’re dry before you continue on.
Next, you’ll want to buy tile adhesive. I used OmniGrip & slathered it on the back of the rocks using a putty knife, but if we’re being completely honest, towards the end of this process I was using my bare hands to finish it. OBLIGATORY WARNING: I DON’T advise doing this, because I can’t guarantee that your experience will be the same as mine, where the adhesive came off easily with soap & water.
MORE OBLIGATORY WARNINGS – READ BEFORE CONTINUING ON.
..DON’T SKIP THIS SECTION, THINKING YOU’RE A REBEL.
– WEAR GLOVES.
-When not using the adhesive, keep the cover on top of it so it doesn’t dry out.
– I didn’t really notice any smell coming from the adhesive, but my sense of smell is also completely screwed up. So, have a fan running or a window open if you’re worried about any fumes.
-IF YOU, LIKE ME, HAVE A PET OR PETS that like to follow you everywhere, bar them from your working area until everything is dry. You don’t want them ingesting anything they’re not supposed to. My rottie was not happy with the separation, but it was for her own good.
– WEAR PROTECTIVE FOOTWEAR. You’ll see that in the video I posted, I wore socks only. Why am I telling you to wear protective footwear? Because when a bigger rock doesn’t stick the first time you place it, it won’t bounce off & bruise/break one of your toes. Thankfully I didn’t break my toe, but it was black & blue for a solid month. LEARN FROM MY MISTAKES PEOPLE.
– WEAR OLD CLOTHES THAT YOU DO NOT CARE ABOUT. THE ADHESIVE DOES NOT COME OFF CLOTHING. Those camo sweatpants I’m rockin’ in the video? They’re now designated for home improvement activities and nothing else, because I ruined them during this project.
– Remove any rings/jewelry you have on that you value.
– Don’t touch other shit in the house or your face/hair with adhesive covered hands.
– Put newspaper down below the wall & surrounding flooring areas, because as I mentioned earlier, rocks may not stick the first time they’re placed, and you don’t want to have to clean up adhesive off your floor on top of yourself once completed.
-When you’re done for the day, or you’ve completed the project, WASH YOUR HANDS BEFORE TOUCHING ANYTHING/EATING/DRINKING.
**Keep in mind, my wall dried fairly quickly because I had the pellet stove running during placement. This is not necessary; you can leave the wall to dry on it’s own. I’m telling you this so you know not to touch it while it’s drying, but also so you know why I was in a sports bra for the majority of the video. Not trying to look sexy. I was sweating my ass off.
Now that you’ve heeded all warnings, you’re reading to start smearin’ the adhesive on your rocks and placing them. There’s no rhyme or reason to placement, however I tried to do different areas of the wall at different times, this way I could give one section time to dry before I revisited it. For the larger rocks, you might want to hold it in place for a few seconds just to give it time to stick completely. If some of the rocks fall after you’re done, don’t worry – you can always restick them. While this activity seems quick, I assure you, it’s not. Once you start doing it, you get kind of obsessive-compulsive with where you’re placing stuff, you may take breaks during the process, etc.. carve out a few hours for yourself to complete your project, or be prepared to spend several days. I actually enjoyed it; I blasted rap music and put rocks up for close to eight hours. It wasn’t until I felt my lower back start to hurt that I realized how much time went by.
Email me with your finished rock walls, I’d love to see them!
Here’s a complete materials list w/ pricing – click the material for info on where I purchased it!
– Cement board (4) at $10.48
– Dawn Dish Soap (go to your local supermarket, duh, & it’s like $2.)
– Rocks. Remember, CHECK local ordinances before taking rocks from anywhere that isn’t your own yard. Otherwise, this project may cost you more than it cost me, because you’ll need bail money.
– OmniGrip Tile Adhesive(1) at $25.48
– Putty knife (1) at $1.70
