i have a upcoming job that specs a 4 foot high masonary wall consrtucted with glass wine and beer bottles. this wall is non structural and decorative only. the bottles bottoms have been cut off to 3-4 inches and will be mortared horizonally on to a structural brick & block wall. i am uncertain as to how to approach this project and need suggestions . here is what i am thinking
1— —i will tapcon a sheet of cement board to the srructural wall to give me a perfectly flat surface to work off of .
2— i will use glass block mortar dyed with cement dye to the customers spec
3— i will carefully dip the mortar end of the bottles into a acid etch solution prior to construction to promote adhesion.
4 —-i will trowel the mortar onto the cement board about 1/2 ” thick and carefully inbed the bottles etched & cut end into the mortar —each course will rest on the previous course and will not have any mortar joint —of course i will construct this over several days as to not encourage collapse or compromise joint adhesion
5 —–at the top of the wall a cap is speced and will have to be formed and poured in place —that should not present any problems
my questions are
1—is my approach correct and most of all will it stand the test of time ?
2—-is standard cement dye ok for glass block mortar?
3—is there a better mortar or adhesive out there that would be a better choice?
4 —should i use wall anchors in the mortar?
5—-can anyone direct me to anything on the web that pretains to this project?
6—-critique my approach please and by all means send your input
i have to o to work now and will eturn later to see any responses
thanks ——-greg
Replies
hmmmmm...
if you are going to lay them up with no mortar between them then there will be spaces....
since not all the bottles are equal diameter.. they are going to wander off course
why are you only using the bottoms and not the whole bottles ?
why are they being mortared onto a structural brick and block wall... why not make them the structure like a (conventional ) bottle wall ?
the brick wall is ugly and a mess of odd shape bricks ---customer wants to veneer the wall without losing room size ----the spaces beteween the bottles did not seem to bother the customer ---i did point that out to him ---i did suggest laying them up like a conventional wall---no intrest there by him ---
i think i am going to mock up a small trial model both ways to give him a visual example of the finished project ---might chane his mind
thanks for the input
greg
Did you read the FHB article on this?
It seems a Heineken heir was appalled by all of the bottles he saw on the beaches in The Bahamas (or thereabouts) and decided to do something about it. Beer bottle houses was his solution.
AitchKay
Don't laugh, there are so many bottles lying everywhere in the Caribbean, you could make a business building glass houses. Plastic is almost never seen on the islands I go to, as they have our old bottling machines.The glass house was on a back cover, forget which one, but believe there was a bit about plastic spacers between bottles, like glass tile block.But wouldn't you know former FHB editor Dan Morrison and I were traveling in Quebec and we stopped upon this 10x15 glass bottle cottage. Strangest thing ever. Lots of colored bottles, including fish shaped wine bottles, set in different colored mortars.I have some pics and can post them later.Oh, there was one other odd thing inside: a bench built out of bottles. I didn't have the nerve to test that out.
Grandma Prisbrey's Bottle Village:http://www.agilitynut.com/h/prisbrey.html
If you can even out the pressure I think you would be surprised at the compressive strength of a bottle, particularly an old style Coke bottle..
On our honeymoon many years ago we stopped at a house mostly made from embalmers fluid bottles in mortar and old off cut of knotty pine 60 years ago there off cuts were by todays standards select of better. This place is north of Creston, BC, Canada They have tours.seems with all that work would be nice to back light it!!!
BB
For some reason British Columbia has a preponderance of the roadside attractions.
There are some here in Washington State, too.Here's Rich's Art House about 25 miles down I-5 from me:View Image
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Dick and Jane's Spot (Art Yard) in Ellensburg, Washington:
View Image View Image View Image
Why are the bottles 3-4 inches long? Why not just one inch? No benefit to dipping in the acid. Pack the inside of the bottle full of mortar, be sure to avoid voids, just stick it to the cement board like tile. When it sets, grout between the bottles, just like tile.
"Put your creed in your deed." Emerson
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
thanks fasy eddie------the reason for 3-4inch bottles is that what the customer cut them to----i guess he wants the illusion or a more spectactular 3 demention effect ---to be honest i would have never thought of packing the bottle full of mortar ----thanks again for the tips -------greg
I have seen this done with bearing walls in the Caribbean, They used lots of mud (looked like type S) between the bottles so it was really a concrete wall with bottles in it. The bottles were not full of concrete. You also see bottles in the top of walls but they are just broken off and jagged. Keeps out the riff raff.
thanks for the feedback-----greg