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- Jun 28, 2010
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- 132
Here is the concrete tortoise hide I have been working on for the past couple of weeks. It is actually a mortar hide (concrete wouldn't work), just in case that causes any confusion. I took a couple of weeks to get this completed but that is because I had a bunch of other projects going on at the same time.
As any of you who have Russian Torts well know, it they can climb it, they will! If they can’t climb it, they will keep trying! With that in mind I designed this hide so that it can be climbed over by my very curious torts. As you can see in the pictures, they almost immediately started using it.
The advantages of making a hide like this, is that you get to custom make it to what your needs are, they are very strong and permanent, they are fun to make, and relatively inexpensive. I created this one to fit flatly against the block wall in the enclosure, as well as it being an obstacle that Russian Torts can climb.
I will list some brief explanations of each step in the pictures, and give some lessons learned at the end.
1. These are the basic materials I used. Not in the picture are a cheap margin trowel and the bag of pre-mixed mortar, both available from Home Depot or Lowes. The screen material is called stucco lathe and the bottle is concrete colorant that I used for the final mortar coat. It is better to use thinner wire to tie the lathe material together. Heavy wire is stronger, but gets pretty hard to work with after a while. Thinner wire is much easier to work with and is mainly used to hold the lathe and rebar (if you use it) together. The mortar is what gives the structure it strength.
2. This is the completed armature, ready for the first coat of mortar. Notice I included a piece of rebar I had laying around in my garage. The lathe material cuts easily and you just bind it together with galvanized wire. All wire or metals MUST be galvanized or at least zinc coated, if they are to be used in the mortar.
3. A close up of the armature materials (lathe and leftover wire and screen from the enclosure) I used.
4. This is the first coat of the mortar. This first coat is mainly to stabilize the structure so that the next two layers can be troweled on evenly. Much of the metal armature material will remain exposed at this point. The important thing here is to just get some mortar in the wire. It is helpful to trowel it on with one hand, and then support the wet mortar with the other hand from underneath. Notice that I am working with a heavy duty plastic bag underneath.
5. The mortar for this first coat is completed, and I am letting the mortar cure for a day or two in wet conditions, under a piece of plastic wrap. Concrete based materials are much stronger if they are cured longer under wet conditions. Not soaking wet, but dampened with a hand sprayer.
6. Not pictured here is the next coat of mortar. This coat was placed all over the piece to even everything out and to give the structure strength. Almost all of the wire material is covered up at the end of this step. At this point you will need to coat the inside, let it cure for at least a day, and then coat the outside. Be very careful during this step as the mortar is a bit more fragile at this point.
7. This is the completed hide. For the last coat of mortar I mixed a batch of concrete colorant and added it to the mortar. This “colored water†is then added to the dry mortar mix so that the mortar color is consistent. I made a larger batch of the colored water than I would need for the inside coat, because I wanted the outside color to be consistent. I made a drip edge on the lip of the opening to shed water away from the interior of the hide. The drip edge required two hands to get the mortar placed just right. This takes some practice! I textured the outside layer by crumpling up a plastic grocery store bag and squishing it into the final wet layer of mortar. I completed this last step in my garage and wrapped it in plastic. I let it wet cure for several days before I moved it.
8. The last pictures are of the hide placed in the enclosure. It could easily accommodate several Russian Torts.
Lessons learned:
1. Wear gloves! Concrete based materials will pit your skin, so rubber gloves are best while you work with the mortar. Wear leather gloves for building the armature. The lathe turns into hundreds of tiny razor blades after you cut it with scissors, and the wire just chews up your fingers after a while. A couple of times I didn’t wear gloves and my hands were pretty thrashed. Not that big a deal, but gloves are better.
2. When building the armature, use a double layer of the lathe material. The reason for this is that the double layer holds that initial mortar layer much more effectively. You can probably overdo the amount of wire and support material, but too little is much harder to work with.
3. Work with small batches of mortar at a time! “Concrete waits for no man!†is a saying in the construction business, for a reason. Once it starts to set up, you may have to throw it away. No big deal though because it’s pretty inexpensive.
4. Use less water to make a stiffer mix, for the initial mortar coat. Use wetter coats for the next two. You will have to experiment with this.
5. Scrape and wire brush loose bits of mortar before placing the new layers. This results in better adhesion.
6. Spray the prior layer of mortar with water just before you add the next coat. On one of the first hides I made, I didn’t do this. The results were that the dried mortar sucked up too much of the moisture from the new mortar. The new mortar layer cracked as it cured because it dried unevenly.
7. Do a couple of experiments first, before you attempt the final project. Make a couple of smaller hides or sculpture type shapes. You will learn what consistencies work best, how the layers are applied, and how the curing works. You will need to play around with the mortar in particular if you have never worked with cement based materials before.
8. Your project will probably end up being heavier than you expect. The hide I made here weighs about 70 pounds. If your project ends up weighing a lot, be sure to have someone else help you move it and place it. Do this even if you are confident that you can still lift it on your own. Concrete will not gain its full strength for quite a while, so it is still somewhat fragile for the first few days. It would be pretty frustrating to spend all the time and effort creating a really cool hide, only to have it crack because you tried to move it on your own. If I were to create a much larger hide, I would definately use rebar along with the lathe, and I would wet cure it for a week before I moved it. The mortar will have gained the majority of its strength by then so it would be safer to move. A large hide could be very heavy, so I would also probably figure out a way to build in several handholds.
Enjoy!
Frank
As any of you who have Russian Torts well know, it they can climb it, they will! If they can’t climb it, they will keep trying! With that in mind I designed this hide so that it can be climbed over by my very curious torts. As you can see in the pictures, they almost immediately started using it.
The advantages of making a hide like this, is that you get to custom make it to what your needs are, they are very strong and permanent, they are fun to make, and relatively inexpensive. I created this one to fit flatly against the block wall in the enclosure, as well as it being an obstacle that Russian Torts can climb.
I will list some brief explanations of each step in the pictures, and give some lessons learned at the end.
1. These are the basic materials I used. Not in the picture are a cheap margin trowel and the bag of pre-mixed mortar, both available from Home Depot or Lowes. The screen material is called stucco lathe and the bottle is concrete colorant that I used for the final mortar coat. It is better to use thinner wire to tie the lathe material together. Heavy wire is stronger, but gets pretty hard to work with after a while. Thinner wire is much easier to work with and is mainly used to hold the lathe and rebar (if you use it) together. The mortar is what gives the structure it strength.
2. This is the completed armature, ready for the first coat of mortar. Notice I included a piece of rebar I had laying around in my garage. The lathe material cuts easily and you just bind it together with galvanized wire. All wire or metals MUST be galvanized or at least zinc coated, if they are to be used in the mortar.
3. A close up of the armature materials (lathe and leftover wire and screen from the enclosure) I used.
4. This is the first coat of the mortar. This first coat is mainly to stabilize the structure so that the next two layers can be troweled on evenly. Much of the metal armature material will remain exposed at this point. The important thing here is to just get some mortar in the wire. It is helpful to trowel it on with one hand, and then support the wet mortar with the other hand from underneath. Notice that I am working with a heavy duty plastic bag underneath.
5. The mortar for this first coat is completed, and I am letting the mortar cure for a day or two in wet conditions, under a piece of plastic wrap. Concrete based materials are much stronger if they are cured longer under wet conditions. Not soaking wet, but dampened with a hand sprayer.
6. Not pictured here is the next coat of mortar. This coat was placed all over the piece to even everything out and to give the structure strength. Almost all of the wire material is covered up at the end of this step. At this point you will need to coat the inside, let it cure for at least a day, and then coat the outside. Be very careful during this step as the mortar is a bit more fragile at this point.
7. This is the completed hide. For the last coat of mortar I mixed a batch of concrete colorant and added it to the mortar. This “colored water†is then added to the dry mortar mix so that the mortar color is consistent. I made a larger batch of the colored water than I would need for the inside coat, because I wanted the outside color to be consistent. I made a drip edge on the lip of the opening to shed water away from the interior of the hide. The drip edge required two hands to get the mortar placed just right. This takes some practice! I textured the outside layer by crumpling up a plastic grocery store bag and squishing it into the final wet layer of mortar. I completed this last step in my garage and wrapped it in plastic. I let it wet cure for several days before I moved it.
8. The last pictures are of the hide placed in the enclosure. It could easily accommodate several Russian Torts.
Lessons learned:
1. Wear gloves! Concrete based materials will pit your skin, so rubber gloves are best while you work with the mortar. Wear leather gloves for building the armature. The lathe turns into hundreds of tiny razor blades after you cut it with scissors, and the wire just chews up your fingers after a while. A couple of times I didn’t wear gloves and my hands were pretty thrashed. Not that big a deal, but gloves are better.
2. When building the armature, use a double layer of the lathe material. The reason for this is that the double layer holds that initial mortar layer much more effectively. You can probably overdo the amount of wire and support material, but too little is much harder to work with.
3. Work with small batches of mortar at a time! “Concrete waits for no man!†is a saying in the construction business, for a reason. Once it starts to set up, you may have to throw it away. No big deal though because it’s pretty inexpensive.
4. Use less water to make a stiffer mix, for the initial mortar coat. Use wetter coats for the next two. You will have to experiment with this.
5. Scrape and wire brush loose bits of mortar before placing the new layers. This results in better adhesion.
6. Spray the prior layer of mortar with water just before you add the next coat. On one of the first hides I made, I didn’t do this. The results were that the dried mortar sucked up too much of the moisture from the new mortar. The new mortar layer cracked as it cured because it dried unevenly.
7. Do a couple of experiments first, before you attempt the final project. Make a couple of smaller hides or sculpture type shapes. You will learn what consistencies work best, how the layers are applied, and how the curing works. You will need to play around with the mortar in particular if you have never worked with cement based materials before.
8. Your project will probably end up being heavier than you expect. The hide I made here weighs about 70 pounds. If your project ends up weighing a lot, be sure to have someone else help you move it and place it. Do this even if you are confident that you can still lift it on your own. Concrete will not gain its full strength for quite a while, so it is still somewhat fragile for the first few days. It would be pretty frustrating to spend all the time and effort creating a really cool hide, only to have it crack because you tried to move it on your own. If I were to create a much larger hide, I would definately use rebar along with the lathe, and I would wet cure it for a week before I moved it. The mortar will have gained the majority of its strength by then so it would be safer to move. A large hide could be very heavy, so I would also probably figure out a way to build in several handholds.
Enjoy!
Frank
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