Does anyone know what happens to drywall mud, once it dries completely, when it is outdoors?
I am extending my layout outside under a covered porch where it will not get wet but will be subject to freezing temperatures and a wide range of daily temperatures, often 30 or 40 degrees in one 24-hour period, here in Colorado.
What will happen to the drywall mud/joint compound? I use it on blue/pink foam to create rock and ground formations, then paint it with a gesso/latex paint before staining/painting to look like rock and ground.
Someone in the general forum gave me the good suggestion to ask this question here, and I should say by way of disclaimer that I'm not initially feeling too confident about using joint compound in places where there will be severe temperature ranges.....
The St. Francis Consolidated Railroad of the Colorado Rockies
Denver, Colorado
Joint Compound is strictly an indoor product. I don't think you'd have problems with temperature fluctuations but any moisture is going to make it soften. They do make moisture RESISTANT drywall compound but I think you'd be better off pursuing a portland cement based product something like Thin Set mortar tile setters use?
Don't believe everything you think!
The humidity alone will cause problems, I have seen drywall damaged that was patch with joint compound in bathrooms puff up and bubble under the paint just from the ambient humidity , no direct moisture exposure, I would suggest instead using a ready-to-use smooth stucco or tile setting material instead, its about as pliable and workable and will be solid as a rock - literally- when dry.
Have fun with your trains
Thanks guys; I'm convinced not to use drywall mud outside....I'm going to use all-weather caulk to fill the cracks in the foam and I'll probably take VSmith's suggestion to use smooth stucco or something like that for whatever else I need.
I'm also going to look very seriously into the other suggestion to use steel studs for most of my benchwork...I guess I'll have to learn a new skill; I hope it's not too difficult to learn and use. I see youtube in my near future.
Thanks again.
I have a portion of my layout on a viaduct very similar in construction to what you are planning. I covered the foam in chicken wire and then with common stucco. So far the combination has been outside for about 5 years or so and is none the less for standard wear (dog and kid damage aside). I added the chicken wire over the foam with the thought that it would act as rebar and give the stucco something more to adhere to rather than just the foam. So far, so good. My suggestion is to completely cover all exposed foam, leave nothing in the raw state. Anywhere the foam is exposed will slowly start to dissolve away in the sun.
The Dixie D Short Line "Lux Lucet In Tenebris Nihil Igitur Mors Est Ad Nos 2001"
Thanks Jack, I'm liking the "rebar" idea a lot.
On another note, my rr names are combinations of meaningful people, places, and activities in my life....your tag line reminds me that I haven't included my Jesuit training anywhere, which included almost three years of Latin...my now very very poor Latin skills tell me your line reads something like "Death is nullified, or is nothing, compared to the light, so we go into the darkness." Am I even close?
Oh dear oh dear.... whatever are they teaching in schools today? The tag reads "[the] light shines in the darkness; nothing therefore death is to us". It's from an inscription on a 2nd or 3rd century christian tomb and inscribed under is a lighted oil lamp shaped like a chalice (or a chalice with a light issuing from the top) with 7 stars surrounding it in a circle. The symbolisms should be clear, if not, back to the dusty book library with you!
tangerine-jack Oh dear oh dear.... whatever are they teaching in schools today? The tag reads "[the] light shines in the darkness; nothing therefore death is to us". It's from an inscription on a 2nd or 3rd century christian tomb and inscribed under is a lighted oil lamp shaped like a chalice (or a chalice with a light issuing from the top) with 7 stars surrounding it in a circle. The symbolisms should be clear, if not, back to the dusty book library with you!
Ha! Fr. Bakewell, S.J., will most disappointed in me (from above unfortunately) I'm sure!
Only the dead man could tell us I suppose whether those are the Seven Deadly Sins or the Seven Sacraments, unless it's one of those goofy revelations references.
My favorite saying, which I am very tempted frequently to dust off and throw into these forums, especially the one for MR (not so much for us tolerant and kindly large-scale folk) is:
De gustibus non disputandum est
True, but wouldn "elegans" be more appropriate than "gustibus"? "Gustubus" is generaly in context for a food substance meaning "flavor" whereas "elegans" is as the root of the word "elegant" meaning something is in "good taste" like a piece of furniture or decoration? So are you meaning to say that "the flavor is not disputed" or the "the [good] taste is not disputed"? I'm not sure if in Latin times the homonym of the English "taste" used as a flavor vs a discriminative affection (as in good taste in art) would make an understandable double entendre. Or did I miss the boat on this one as I have been know to do in the past by overthinking things far too much?
True, but wouldn't "elegans" be more appropriate than "gustibus"? "Gustubus" is generaly in context for a food substance meaning "flavor" whereas "elegans" is as the root of the word "elegant" meaning something is in "good taste" like a piece of furniture or decoration? So are you meaning to say that "the flavor is not disputed" or the "the [good] taste is not disputed"? I'm not sure if in Latin times the homonym of the English "taste" used as a flavor vs a discriminative affection (as in good taste in art) would make an understandable double entendre. Or did I miss the boat on this one as I have been know to do in the past by overthinking things far too much?
hmmm....elegantibus.......I like it.....but then the thing that has always bothered me about this quote is that disputandum actually means "to have a conversation" not "arguing" or "disputing." It sounds like "dispute" but that isn't right; it's more like "discussion." There's nothing wrong with having a conversation about matters of taste, like, as you say, good taste in art, but there's no sense in arguing with somebody else's subjective opinion.
Maybe the right word is some variant of the Latin "oro" as in our English oration, which is based on the original idea of argument.
What's the Latin for "drywall mud?"
Latin for drywall mud?
GOOP.
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