Hi all! My first post on here. I posted this photo on another forum to show the tree and was asked about the wall, it didn't seem appropriate to hijack the thread and talk about this on the tropicals forum....so here I am. Hope the intrusion is welcome :-)
This is our block wall in our yard, it's standard- about 6'
We attached stucco netting to the block wall using anchors drilled into the block. Then we put plastic sheeting up, then another layer of stucco netting. The sheeting allowed us to backfill- we used eveything from dirt to styrofoam to backfill in areas where we created bulges and stuff. Where and how tight you attach to the anchors helps control the shapes but you can crinkle and bend the netting to create a natural effect.
We then mixed cement with a small aggregate (styrofoams balls, and perlite both work good for this) for a front filler in areas where still had quite a bit of play in the netting. Once that dries, we went back over the entire thing with a mortar mixture, this is your strength and must cover all the netting, thin spots will be weak spots. We wanted texture and this is where you get it, go quickly and don't worry about neatness, you'll get texture, but watch out for long finger marks- once those dry they aren't going anywhere!
Once that dries, we use a 3" chip brushed dipped in cement that has the consistency of.......I can't think of anything......a milkshake that's runny maybe. Not as thin as tomato soup, but not cottage cheese either- too thin and you don't get enough on, too thick and too much. This also might be something to play around with and see what you like. Anyways- dip the chip brush in and brush it on quickly in all directions hitting the high spots. This will smooth out the high spots and leave small divets all over that are not smooth, giving it a 3 demensional look. You can take a moist sponge around periodically to smooth out any brush marks you may have left.
That's the cement part, now for color. I used quikrete's semitransparent concrete stain.
