# Forum Home Renovation Paving  Pebble crete and grinding...

## montiee

Bought a house recently and it has pebble creek in the laundrey leading outside. Trouble is there is a 0.5cm to 1cm gap between were the pebble creek finished and the screen door closes onto the frame making a nice entrance for all the creepy crawly's to come into the house at night. 
Plan A was to build up the pebble creek to fill in the gap so  I took a trip to bunnings but pebble creek is kind of extinct these days I think. I think it would be difficult to try to match the existing pebbles anyway. 
Plan B comes into effect and the idea was to use an angle grinder to produce a nice straight cut across the pebble creek (~5cm wide) and get some black oxide, mix it with cconcrete  and fill across and up to the screen door leaving no gap. The trouble is how do I grind right up to the wooden frame of the door to get a nice straight cut? Obviously the disc won't take me to the end before I hit wall on either side. Any ideas to keep the edge nice and straight and looking professional all the way along?  I'm thinking chisel but am worried that rather than a straight line chunks may come out. 
Alternatively anyone know of a place which sells pebble creek mixes in different shade in Sydney that I can mix with epoxy resin?

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## RedRaven

Heehee, hi Montiee. 
I think you mean 'pebble-crete' as in concrete but with pebbles. 
I'd look at modifying the door first - can you put weather strip on it or something from Clark Rubber to close the gap? 
A photo/pic would be handy so others can see exactly where the problem is.  :2thumbsup:

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## Bleedin Thumb

> Heehee, hi Montiee. 
> I think you mean 'pebble-crete' as in concrete but with pebbles.

  
Maybe not - there is a slight chance that he does infact have a small watercourse running through his laundry. 
If this is the case I would suggest constructing a dam under flyscreen door - this should fill in the gap however you will then have turned your pebble creek into a lake. :Doh:

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## montiee

> Maybe not - there is a slight chance that he does infact have a small watercourse running through his laundry.

  Smartarse!.  :Blush7:    

> Heehee, hi Montiee. 
> I think you mean 'pebble-crete' as in concrete but with pebbles. 
> I'd look at modifying the door first - can you put weather strip on it or something from Clark Rubber to close the gap?

  Yeh I was in bunnings looking at various insulation tapes, some are quite thick though at it's widest there seems to be a centimetre gap between where the crete stops and the screen door starts. I think trying to put on 1 centimetre tape is going to look a bit weird... 
The joys of doing up an old house...   

> A photo/pic would be handy so others can see exactly where the problem is.

  See attachment. Also from this you can see that a chunk of pebble crete is missing so got a feeling it's cleaner to remove it and put concrete up to the door or put add crete but my attempts at finding it in Sydney not too successful. 
Given that the photo is up anyone know of a place in Sydney that coul match this pebble crete for a reasonable price. I've got a couple loose spots that need to be tidied up as well.  
PS: if a mod is reading this can they correct the title mispelling  :Smilie:

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## tea lady

Maybe you could mix fishtank pebbles with epoxy. Make a form with plastic to get a neat edge, or form with concrete spreader thingy. Get bight pink or something and make a feature of it. :Biggrin:  Maybe not. Just black then if you are the boring type. :Rolleyes:

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## montiee

> Maybe you could mix fishtank pebbles with epoxy. Make a form with plastic to get a neat edge, or form with concrete spreader thingy. Get bight pink or something and make a feature of it. Maybe not. Just black then if you are the boring type.

  I think I'll stick with black if I do the concrete thing. My mates might get the wrong impression otherwise  :No:  
I have a large acquarium retailer near by. Might be a good place to check out for the pebbles. Didn't think of it until you mentioned it.  
Anyone have any ideas on what specific epoxy would work for this?

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## DJ's Timber

> PS: if a mod is reading this can they correct the title mispelling

   :2thumbsup:

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## tea lady

How many types of epoxy are there? I thought epoxy was epoxy!! :Confused:  I guess not. Could ask the geniuses in that big hardware shop. :Biggrin:

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## markharrison

> Plan A was to build up the pebble creek to fill in the gap so  I took a trip to bunnings but pebble creek is kind of extinct these days I think. I think it would be difficult to try to match the existing pebbles anyway.

  You looked in the wrong place. I had a similar problem with pool cap. I went to a landscape supply and found what I wanted in little bags.   

> Plan B comes into effect and the idea was to use an angle grinder to produce a nice straight cut across the pebble creek (~5cm wide) and get some black oxide, mix it with cconcrete  and fill across and up to the screen door leaving no gap. The trouble is how do I grind right up to the wooden frame of the door to get a nice straight cut? Obviously the disc won't take me to the end before I hit wall on either side. Any ideas to keep the edge nice and straight and looking professional all the way along? I'm thinking chisel but am worried that rather than a straight line chunks may come out.

  Remove the door jamb first. There's probably only three nails holding it there anyway. I have done something similar and just used an angle grinder with a diamond wheel (dry). I snapped a chalk line where the cut was supposed to go first. I used red chalk to make it easier to see. I also used bought a Triton respirator. The mess this makes is unbelievable.   

> Alternatively anyone know of a place which sells pebble creek mixes in different shade in Sydney that I can mix with epoxy resin?

  If I recall correctly, I bought my little bag of pebbles from Australian Native Landscapes on Mona Vale Road (I lived at Bilgola at that time).

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## Caloute

> Bought a house recently and it has pebble creek in the laundrey leading outside. Trouble is there is a 0.5cm to 1cm gap between were the pebble creek finished and the screen door closes onto the frame making a nice entrance for all the creepy crawly's to come into the house at night. 
> Plan A was to build up the pebble creek to fill in the gap so I took a trip to bunnings but pebble creek is kind of extinct these days I think. I think it would be difficult to try to match the existing pebbles anyway. 
> Plan B comes into effect and the idea was to use an angle grinder to produce a nice straight cut across the pebble creek (~5cm wide) and get some black oxide, mix it with cconcrete and fill across and up to the screen door leaving no gap. The trouble is how do I grind right up to the wooden frame of the door to get a nice straight cut? Obviously the disc won't take me to the end before I hit wall on either side. Any ideas to keep the edge nice and straight and looking professional all the way along? I'm thinking chisel but am worried that rather than a straight line chunks may come out. 
> Alternatively anyone know of a place which sells pebble creek mixes in different shade in Sydney that I can mix with epoxy resin?

  It is hard to patch up pebble crete, I have a friend that is specialized in that field and even he knows his peeble and mix, he would break the entire thing to redo it, as even knowing his mix and pebble he says it always will look like a patch. 
I am not sure how handy you are, but here is what I recommend, figure out the height of the peeble crete thickness, if it is like 1 cm, then break just a bit of it, look at the stone, then go look for some tiles that match the darker pebble, then get a box of the tiles, figure out what measure  the tiles are, then cut pebble straight line so you can replace with tiles (had a row of tiles), I know it will cost, but will finish nicely. That is what I would do. You could probably do it with 2-4 tiles depending of size you get. If you patch it up and don't mind the difference you get, well it is easier less costly...looks the same as it cost. 
Cal

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## markharrison

Well, either that or cut a neat line and make a "feature" of the difference. Make it look like it was intended to be different.

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## montiee

To be honest I don't care if it stands out as a patch. In a couple of years it's going to be demolished (that section) and a proper extension added. I'm kind of looking at it from a pest control measure to stop the creepy crawlies coming in at night under the door from the large grass backyard. 
 Need to find some time to visit that acquarium place. Like anything when you have something to do you never have time to do it  :Rolleyes:

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## Terrian

> Maybe not - there is a slight chance that he does infact have a small watercourse running through his laundry.

  I would have said pebble-crete from this:  

> so  I took a trip to bunnings but pebble creek is kind of extinct these days I think

  http://pebblecrete.com.au/products.html 
contact them and they should be able to point you to a supplier, most likely a garden supplies.

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## Caloute

If I am not mistaken, try this one:  *Turtle Landscape Supplies * <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=text vAlign=top>Rouse Road
cnr Windsor Road
Rouse Hill NSW 2155
Telephone: (02) 9629-2299  
Caloute
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

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## Ronaldo451

It would be far simpler & cheaper to use a piece of aluminium angle or similar to cap the edge of the step and pack it up a bit if necessary....

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