An anticlimactic end of the week

But now that I’m going to adhere concrete “stones” to the front, not only did I need to get rid of that black paint (concrete stones need to be adhered to bare concrete), but I also wanted to smooth out some rough areas of the concrete to make it smooth and flat, so the concrete stones will stick easier.

This was a very complicated job and I didn’t get much work done before the first battery in my hand grinder ran out of charge. So I swapped it out for a charged battery and made it this far before the fully charged battery ran out of charge. And of course, my other battery hadn’t had enough time to charge at this point, so I couldn’t continue. This is why I have a love/hate (leaning more towards hate) relationship with battery operated power tools. I like corded tools and I can’t lie.

But he was determined to keep going. I wasn’t halfway there with polishing the concrete, but I figured if I could get at least half of them together, I’d be pleased with my progress. Then I did the rest of the prep work I needed to do to get started. Starting from the left side of the design and working to the right, I arranged the stones so that once I started, I wouldn’t have to waste time determining which one came next. And I also wanted to be able to anticipate in advance when I would need to cut a stone to make it fit.

And of course, it was pretty easy to organize them because I had already made my layout map. The stones with the white asterisks are the ones to cut.

And then I used some 1/2 inch plywood and cut it into strips to use as spacers for my 1/2 inch mortar lines between the stones.

I cleaned my tile saw, set it up with plenty of water in the sink, and plugged it in so it would be ready to go when I got to the stones that needed cutting. And with that, I was ready to go! So I took out the adhesive I had chosen, cut the inner plastic cap and top off, put it in my caulking gun and squeezed as hard as I could, but nothing came out.

I chose this specific construction adhesive after doing quite a bit of research comparing the pros and cons of using construction adhesive and mortar for a project like this. After comparing the two, I decided on the construction adhesive. This particular one can be used on wet surfaces and even underwater, which is helpful since we’ve been having a lot of rainy days lately. But I chose this one specifically because it has the strongest initial hold of any construction adhesive available in a big box store. You can see on the label that it says it has a “0 second” retention. Most construction adhesives have a minimum duration of 30 seconds, meaning you need to hold the item in place for at least 30 seconds before it really takes hold. What I wanted was a “0 second” wait.

But no matter what I did, I couldn’t get even a bit of adhesive out of that tube. Then I thought maybe I had stumbled upon an old pipe that had dried out. I took out a second one and tried it. The same. I literally pulled the trigger with both hands and with all the force I could muster, and it didn’t move the adhesive at all.

So I went online and searched for “Gorilla Ultimate Construction Adhesive Won’t Come Out of Tube.” And of course, Google’s AI told me to make sure I had cut off the tip of the tube (obviously!) and pierced the seal on the inside. Well, this adhesive does not have a seal that can be punctured like silicone caulk does. It has a plastic thing that has to be cut with a cutter. Of course, he had. This is not the first time I have used construction adhesive.

And then it said, “Gorilla Ultimate is notoriously difficult to use because it’s so thick. Try putting the tube of adhesive in a bowl of hot water for ten minutes before using it.” So I tried it. Still…nothing. I tell you, no matter how hard I squeezed, I didn’t pull the adhesive out of the tube even a fraction of an inch. I have used many caulks and adhesives that were difficult to remove from the tube, but I have never had an experience like this where the adhesive did not move. at all when I used all my strength to get him out.

Then I gave up. I was exhausted and had a terrible headache at this point, so I decided to call it a day. I’ll try it again this weekend with a different type of adhesive. I’m really disappointed this didn’t work. Maybe I just took several tubes from a bad batch. Or maybe the box I took those tubes from had been on the shelf too long and dried out. I don’t know. Maybe abandon the construction adhesive plan and go back to the mortar idea. But whatever you use, it has to have a very strong initial hold. So if you have any ideas, I’m all ears.

Either way, it’s a disappointing end to the week. I sure expected to see at least some of the stones placed at the end of my workday yesterday, but sometimes our DIY schedules don’t work out the way we want them to.