Question from Sam

Hi Brett and everyone,

If I were to dream of creating a large mural made up of several panels (like FOREST DAWN)… how thick would I need to use? Is this best on a fibre cement type product?

Any help greatly appreciated.

Sam

Reply from Garry

Hi Sammy,

I’ve made a wall mosaic 1500X1000mm on 6mm ceramic floor tile underlay. From Bunnings, of course. It’s the one that has little black dots every 100mm for nailing. I used MPP adhesive (white powder with polymer additive, mixed with plain water) and put an aluminium edging all around (like tilers use up against carpet), which adds to rigidity. It is rigid up to a point, but needs to be handled carefully until it is fixed in place.

If flexing is a worry, silicon adhesive will overcome that.

Once you go to thicker Fibre Compressed Cement, the sheets become very heavy. And me, I wouldn’t use marine ply. It’s wood, and if wood gets wet, it’s all over. No matter how well you seal. It can also bow long term, if one side is exposed to sun/rain.
I’m doing a floor at the moment, 2000X1500mm. It’s a scene of Nobbys Lighthouse with a girl in the foreground and seagulls overhead. It’s my first large work, and it’s quite an adventure after house numbers and birdbaths! Also can be quite expensive, thank goodness for the bins out the back of the shops. I just wish they’d throw out more reds and blues!

Hope the dream comes true for you.

Garry.

Reply from Brett

Hi Sam

Everything in Garry’s post makes sense, but I’d lean towards using compressed fibre cement. Very heavy sure, but rigid in it’s own right – I’d use a thickness of 12mm or even better 15mm (as I did with forest dawn in 2100mm x 1200mm panels).

The 6mm tile backer is lighter, but could easily snap if handled incorrectly -it’s nowhere near as tough as the CFC. In my view, better to organise a couple of mates to help with the extra weight of CFC than to risk snapping the tile backer. If I were to use tile backer, I’d attach it first then lay the mosaic on it.

Also, I’d rather use a polymer cement mix for adhesive – there’s plenty of flex for CFC panels, and it would be easier (and cheaper) to work over a larger area – particularly if your tiles are varying thicknesses.

Hope that helps.

Best,

Reply from Sam

Thanks guys that is really helpful, now I can look at what standard sizes of these panels are and continue the dreaming/plannig process.

Much appreciated

Sam