Newby needs help again. I previously asked for help with how to mount track on top of a Pavestone wall and got some really GREAT replies. I'm ready to "prep" the top of the Pavestone wall. By "prep" I mean that the top of the wall had "V's" in between each of the stone blocks which I formed up and filed with mortar mix which has now dried to a light gray color. The Pavestone wall stones are tan, so now the track mounting surface is blotchy tan and gray. My original thought was to coat the top of the wall with a latex paint but the more I thought about it I didn't like that idea. Then I thought if I could find some type of thin weatherproof adhesive that I could coat the top of the wall with then put a thin layer of sandbox type sand into that would give me a uniform color and gritty surface on which to install my track then ballast using TechniSeal's polymeric jointing sand. Is this a good idea? What type of adhesive can I use to keep the sand coating from blowing away? Other suggestions as to how to "coat" the top of the wall before putting track/ballast down? Many THANKS in advance to you "old timer's" who have already "been there - and done that". Willijrw (Jerry)
PS - While you're at it, tell me how to post pictures on this form. I've taken pix and have them on my desktop but how do I incorporate them into a message? I tried clicking on the "image" in the toolbar but that didn't seem to get me anywhere.
I would use spray paint to give you the uniform color you want. My home depot has a textured one called "Sandstone" that looks nice and would give you the color you want. Just clean the wall stop with a stiff brush and a blower before painting.
I did not see your previous post on mounting. Sorry if i'm jumping in late. After the track is down, I would only use a few zip ties with the screw tabs. I would attach these to concrete screws in between the ties then to the ties in a few spots. This would allow for appropriate settling, expansion and contraction (both the wall and track).
I would stay away from polymeric sand for ballast. It has a metallic component and is attracted to magnets (like those in motor blocks). If you feel the need to fix your ballast I would use a fine gravel / stone dust (I use a screened stonedust, screening out the finer part). Then use a diluted exterior glue like Titebond II to fix it.
Posting pics is not hard but you needto have them hosted online first. There are a few free services like Photobucket.com, Flicker.com, and imageshack.net that will host them for you. Most will resize them for you while you upload (640 pixels wide is usually best). Once uploaded just use image tags around the web address of the pics location -
[*img]www.picwebaddress.com[*/img] (with no * in the image tags)
-Brian
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