Concrete Steping Stone With Beach Tile Inlay

by ÁdámM263 in Outside > Backyard

1502 Views, 29 Favorites, 0 Comments

Concrete Steping Stone With Beach Tile Inlay

20200915_070722.jpg
20200914_190   610.jpg
20200914_190455.jpg

In this Instructable I will show you a way of using up treasures found on the seashore. Each time we come home from vacation, we end up bringing a few kilos of pebbles, sea glass and other stuff that usually end up in a box at the back corner of the garage. This is a great way to make use of them.

Materials and Tools

20200913_123354.jpg

Materials:

Ready mix concrete or cement, sand, gravel and water
Sea tile aka: pieces of broken tile smooth down by the sea like sea glass
A piece of chicken wire bit smaller than the final product

Mould (an old saucepan works well)

Mixing the Concrete

20200913_124232.jpg
20200913_124239.jpg

if you use ready mix concrete then using around 15-30% water should be sufficient. You don't want to wet the concrete too much, but you also want to ensure that it flows easily enough to avoid a rough surface. However if you are not using a pre mixed concrete a 1:2:2 mix should be just fine, that is 1 part cement 2 parts fine aggregate (aka: sand) and another 2 parts of coarse aggregate. Make sure that the coarse aggregate does not have too big grains to avoid any surface inconsistencies.

Pouring the Concrete

20200913_124418.jpg
20200913_124422.jpg
20200913_124545.jpg
20200913_124755.jpg

Pour the concrete in two steps: first fill the mold up about halfway and add the chicken wire as reinforcement then pour the remaining concrete on top and vibrate the mold to remove any air bubbles trapped inside the concrete and to evenly distrubute the concrete.

Adding the Tiles

20200913_130033.jpg
20200913_130339.jpg
20200913_130351.jpg
20200913_131025.jpg

When adding the tiles you need to make sure that you don't put them too close together so that to ensure the structure of the final product.is stable. You can easily sink the tiles in place by lightly vibrating them with you fingers.

Remove From Mold

20200914_185854.jpg
20200914_190024.jpg
20200914_190041.jpg

You need to let it cure for at least 24 hours but it helps make the removal from the mold easier if you wait more. After removal it will need an additional week to fully cure.

Done

20200914_190610.jpg
20200915_070722.jpg

After it's fuly cured you can place it anywhere you'd like to avoid stepping in mud it doesn't work well on inclines though.