1,000 Year Doghouse

Step 3

Now Frisky will be safe and secure. When Armageddon comes, I'm heading for the doghouse!

Comments

[jamiebeau]

How about using a hypertufa material composed of cement, perlite and peatmoss to make it light enough to move about? Actual concrete would be a very heavy base to move about.

[dome_head]

Would not be as strong, since ferro cement gets its strength from the compressive strength of the cement.  Make it thicker to compensate, but this increases weight.  Each type of structure would have an optimum set of compromises between weight, strength, cost, etc.  The additives would improve insulating value.

 

[MacGyver1138]

This is a pretty cool idea. Are there any paints that can be used on this?

[jsummerlin]

Having roofed for more years than I care to share. An excellent product and compatible with most substrates is Elastomeric. Can be purchased at your local home center. Latex product cleans with water. When applying several layers use the fiberglass re enforcement mesh 6" wide roll.

[vhcl]

You can use regular water base paint or better yet the anti fungi type like the one regularly use in bathrooms, or even better get it paint while the cement is drying using diluted paint and when it dries it will be fix forever, Imagine a dog house with murals on the walls. How cool is that!!!

[thepelton]

Painting on fresh plaster is the concept for fresco. What occurred to me is that you could cover the outside with glass beads, stones or something of the like for a kind of mosaic decoration.

[iti]

ferrocement is not waterproof. You can add waterproof agents to the mix before applying, or you can use housepaint, or roofing paints or sealers to seal it. But as it stands? This little guy will be really wet if it rains. :) Nice job building the wire frame, and mudding it. Looks great.

[vermeuliscious]

I seriously doubt the water will pour through an inch of concrete. If the house were submerged it would wick through, but I'm sure mr frisky will be just fine in the rain.

[iti]

lol. Actually, rain will pour through 3 inches of concrete.  Lookat any road, driveway, carport etc.  Concrete is porous. You mightlike to do a google search on ferrocement, there are several excellent sites.

It needs a sealer of some form.  Because the house is curved, therain will run off, but if it rained for a week, it will  obsorb thewater, and sooner or later the saturation point will be reached andwater will run through.

It has tiny fractures throughout, over time if not checked, they grow,turning into hairline cracks, then big cracks.  Any wire insidewill rust, and expand the cracks more.  etc etc.

Sealants are required.  Just do a test, try it yourself.

Even cement walls on a house must be sealed on the outside if you wantan fha loan. Why?  because they will do the same thing, absorb therain, water from sprinklers and then transfer it to the inside.

And in the case of a sprinkler? It doesnt take days, lol. I tried this one too.  It was fun to watch and see that thepattern on the inside was the same as the outside.  I nice curve.  

[glorybe]

It is ferro-cement not ferro-concrete. The wire replaces the stone aggregate in concrete. Also to space the layers of wire some people make little slugs of cement to use as spacers between the layers. Ferro-cement can be super strong to say the very least. It is a wonderful medium and the world is just catching on to it. Homes can be built with this method.

[Briguy9]

I thought it only works when the dog is inside the house? lol.