I would soon find that the real health hazard was concrete dust. I was planning to use a wire brush, but had apparently misplaced mine, but it didnt matter: even the bristle brush was sending off small clouds of dust from the surface of the lamp base. There was a risk that the PVC, by itself, would be too soft to resist lateral wearing over time, as the lamp shaft wobbled within its base. I wasnt sure how to proceed. Here, I saw a problem. The lamp pole is extremely thin too and is also made of metal so it can be moved quite easily without stumbling over. It helped that there seemed to be water oozing up: the surface was wetter now than it had been when I finished the original troweling. I've tried forming a new weight out of lots of clay, but it's not strong enough to hold the shafts rigid. In that case, a glance at the label on my half-used tube of Liquid Nails LN-700 confirmed that it was supposedly good on concrete and vinyl, but not on steel. The only other idea I've had was to pour a new base out of cement, but it's not very realistic for me, and besides, it would be pretty expensive. Come join the discussion about tools, projects, builds, styles, scales, reviews, accessories, classifieds, and more! Anyway, it wasnt as though I had started with a pristine lamp whose etching around the bottom would stand out like a sore thumb. It did seem that the resulting base was level: As that picture illustrates, the base was not in perfect condition anyway. HTC Floor Systems (n.d.) illustrated what those mechanical methods (e.g., scarification) looked like: It wasnt clear when I should test the concrete with a screwdriver. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. A StackExchange discussion suggested that concrete would affect aluminum but might not have much effect on brass. If there is too much water in the concrete mix, this water will rise to the surface during the finishing process (troweling). The absence of any such note probably indicates that it has been working OK in the meantime. I would have thought that the mottled flat surface caused by the cellophane was going to be the final look, but now I saw that it had faded into a result that was only mildly rougher than the parts not affected by the cellophane. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. A. But functionally it was fine. I guess I had hoped that the Liquid Nails would dry clear. As one other possible precaution, for those whose lamp bases include a cord (mine didnt), Ken Mitton suggested inserting a piece of folded cardboard in the concrete to preserve a slot through which the cord could run: I couldnt say whether such a slot would significantly weaken the base or make it more prone to cracking. I think it cures a lot quicker; I just hope it lasts for them. GSA said that lacquer would protect the brass from deterioration, and could be removed and reapplied, but would not itself require polishing. What, specifically, was I looking for? Specifically, as a stabilizer, I decided to add a piece of angle steel, pounded flat, that was left over from an earlier bike rack project: By happy coincidence, while working on the bike rack project, I had already drilled out one of the holes in this little plate to just the right size to fit snugly over the lamps vertical shaft. So now it was time to mix the concrete and do the job. Apparently it would tend to be weak and/or hard to blend into a thin layer, as one user put it. The second try brought me reasonably close to 10 pounds. What's underneath though is a plastic mold filled with what looks like cement/concrete. Mix the linseed oil and thinner of your choice in a 1:1 ratio (see also SawmillCreek). That Quikrete is light stuff light enough to fill the air around your head, every time you fiddle with the Quikrete bag, or pour or stir the concrete powder. So it was just waiting for an excuse to crack or at least to come loose from the sidewalk. After viewing product detail pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. I figured I would add a piece of cardboard over the plastic film to block the diluted greenhouse sunlight, cutting a few degrees off the high end. like the end of winter storm. In contrast to that one guys complaint that his Quikrete began to set within 15 minutes, it had probably been at least 30 minutes since I added the water and yet the mix was still looking very wet. Learn how your comment data is processed. I figured that would be long enough for my little project, but I still decided to do my work in the morning, when it was cooler. It now appeared that the only solution compatible with my tiny budget for this little project was to use a rotary wire brush drill attachment to wear off the loosest dust particles, and hope that my adhesive would mostly stay attached to the remaining concrete for a long time. I did not see a suggestion to make a plaster cast and use that with a 3D printer to make a new base, using some material heavier than plastic, but I supposed that would work too. I've never had such a problem either. Instead, I got something like the wet sand at the beach. Eliminates the need for roughing the surface before the application.. Youre so funny. It had been around for a while, but it was still soft; hopefully it was still potent. When I got the lamp back into position on my desk, surrounded by other stuff, I could barely even see the base etching. It appeared likely, in other words, that if I weighed ten pounds of Quikrete on my bathroom scales (subtracting the combined weight of me and the empty mixing bucket), and added a pint of water, I would have plenty for the base, with some left over. --. As I looked again at the base, it now seemed obvious that I was looking at an antique lacquer finish, not the bright finish of actual brass. I found that, no, it definitely was too hard to gouge with a screwdriver. There were some of the ragged marks you can get with scissoring: on close inspection it didnt exactly look professional. Aside from the fact that this particular Quikrete product wasnt intended for such thin work, I hadnt prepared the sidewalk surface to bond with the Quikrete. Using the garden spade, I shoveled the wet mix into the lamp base. Floor lamps that get moved frequently last only a few years before their plastic and the cement inside crumbles. For example, Home Depot offered a gallon of sodium silicate concrete densifier for $65. That turned out to be correct: in the final result (below), there was no slop at all in the shaft and base. It is primarily caused by the slow disintegration of a weak top layer of concrete. ConcreteNetwork (2020) said, When working indoors, its safest to apply a water-based sealer, because they dont contain harmful fumes from VOCs. It wasnt clear whether they meant that fumes were problematic just during the application process, or that some products would continue to emit pollutants even after they dried. For instance, I saw advice to use Quikrete Resurfacer to avoid cracking when repairing small pits and cracks (e.g., to make a smooth surface, ready for ceramic tile). That likewise seemed to be one problem with the suggestion that, according to Hunker (McGee, 2019), A quality homemade sealant can be made with linseed oil and paint thinner, turpentine, mineral spirits or kerosene. Now that I was belatedly looking into it, I saw that Lowes and Home Depot offered Quikrete ReCap Concrete Resurfacer only in a 40-lb. I put the lamp back into a similar cinderblock stand, with pieces of cardboard and an old welcome mat for cushioning. To illustrate the difference, Lowes offered a 4 diamond grinding wheel for $10, versus silicon carbide wheels for under $3. Could I use some other kind of adhesive to attach one of those mouse pads I had found on eBay? Just grab it on the upper side of the legs and you should be safe. So I would be able to avoid another adventure with a half-horsepower drill and a possible broken arm, while seeking to drill out this steel without the aid of a vise. I decided to let the concrete cure for the full seven days mentioned above. On closer inspection, I could see that the concrete surface looked a little rough, and also that my trowel had pulled some Quikrete from the far side and pushed it to the near side. It didnt. The webpage for Quikrete Sand Topping Mix listed some of the applications it was intended for, including large crack repair, thick beds for ceramic floor tile, and filling cores in masonry block walls. I found that a kitty litter bucket was about the right size for storage, to protect the opened bag from absorbing ground moisture. Not very high priority right now so just trolling for ideas. Quikrete appeared to have a good reputation. That wasnt my situation. First, I wouldnt have had to struggle to level off my rough concrete: as long as the base itself was level within my cinderblock structure, the Resurfacer would have flowed to produce a level result. I've looked for replacement parts but can't find any with two holes for the two uprights shafts. wow - even tho it is 5 years old, it is still relevant. Hi! I hit the finished concrete with a bristle brush. With the lamp reassembled, I did a final wipe-down of the metal base; wrapped the lamp in old rags, to protect its finish; and manipulated four cinderblocks until they held it in a level, upside-down position: My setup was located in an old, partly shaded outdoor greenhouse. The State of New Jersey (n.d.) warned that breathing the dust produced when dry-grinding concrete (which, by the way, is illegal in NJ workplaces) causes silicosis, a disease that kills hundreds of U.S. workers each year. Second, plywood or Resurfacer would have given me a smooth finish, to which the original thin felt pad would have been an adequate final addition. At this point, there was a question of whether I shouldtry to repair the damage to the brass finish of the lamp base.An article posted by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA, 2016) led me to wonder whether the finish was indeed brass or was, rather, lacquer on top of brass. . I wouldnt know whether that would produce a better outcome than just pouring in a final layer of Quikrete Resurfacer (above). But I assumed the latter would suffice for my little job. This lamps base was metal. I found that it did spit out a fair amount of dust. Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations, Select the department you want to search in, Energy efficient LED light bulbs & Floor lamps, Tenergy Torchiere Dimmable LED Floor Lamp, Remote Controlled 30W (150W Equivalent) Standing Lamp with Stepless Touch Dimmer, 90 Adjustable Top, Wall Switch Smart Outlet Compatible, Warm White Light, TenergyLED Floor Lamp Desk Lamp,2-in-1 Dimmable Task Lampwith 4 Color Temperatures, 5 Dimming Levels, 60-Min Timer, Flexible Gooseneck,Touch Control Floor Lamp for Reading/Crafting, 2000 Lumens, Tenergy LED Light Bulb, 9 watts Equivalent A19 E26 Medium Standard Base, 5000K Daylight White Energy Saving Light Bulbs for Office/Home (Pack of 16). If I was wrong about that, the bottom half of my new cement plug would fall out one fine day, as its predecessor had done. An alternative, I believed, was to do the dry-grinding outdoors on a breezy day, or with a fan blowing across the work surface. Perhaps it's a poor-quality product. I had used too much water, within a greenhouse that trapped humidity, in what was already a humid climate. It seemed I needed a little more. I'm impressed that the OP can do the concrete replacement approach in an hour. I had wondered whether the concrete would expand as it cured. My speed, for this operation, was shorts, sandals, and bug spray. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Of course, I could not see what was going on down inside these lumps of concrete. I was best advised, at this point, to locate the Quikrete bag nowhere near the area where, later, I would be throwing the hose around. So I went ahead and ordered a big-enough mouse pad from eBay. It had seemed wise to do it this way, rather than try to trim it to the right size in advance, partly because I noticed that the metal base had been banged or otherwise dented on one side, so it was not perfectly round: I didnt want to have to line up that slightly flattened part when I was attaching the mouse pad to the base. But plainly it would have been better to have a less cluttered workspace. If I had wanted to buy an additional product and store what was left of it, it seemed that I could have left a quarter-inch unfilled, in my lamp base, so as to add Resurfacer at the end. Please send a note to my email where I can read if future fixings. The McLean Company (2020) continued: Whats nice about dust proof sealers like sodium or lithium silicate densifiers is that theyre easy to apply, relatively inexpensive and dont alter the appearance of your flooring surface. On day three of the prescribed five-day curing period, the concrete in the lamp base had turned to a lighter gray, like normal concrete. Then I went to work with the rotary wire brush. All I managed, at that late date, was to add some duct tape around the washers at the bottom of my inverted lamp base, and jam a piece of foam into the lamp shafts central hole, to prevent concrete from pouring down into that. Well, what Will he do Next?? I assume it would have done OK in more adverse settings, but I dont know. It appeared that I would have to try one of those mechanical surface cleaning solutions (e.g., grinding) after all. Could I perhaps smear the contents of a $4 tube of Quikrete Acrylic Masonry Sealer around the base of my lamp? In such heat, the instructions indicated that I should cover the finished job with plastic film (e.g., Saran Wrap) to help it hold moisture until it was completely cured. At that point, I was not inclined to dismantle it. The rough parts were still fragile. It didnt say anything about rubber, one way or the other. I decided against repairing the metal finish, for the moment, when I turned the lamp over and tested its levelness. My search led to various possible solutions (e.g., buy a replacement base; fill it with plaster; somehow attach a five-pound weight from a yard sale dumbbell set). It did appear that at least I had worn through some of the really fine stuff. As an alternative, it was apparently going to cost almost as much just to buy a drill arbor adapter mandrel to accommodate an angle grinder wheel on my drill if, indeed, I could find one to fit the available cutting wheels.