Making concrete tikis

I'm planning on making two 10' concrete tikis,I'm going to use a wire mesh for the frame work and plaster the concrete on the outside of the frame work.My question is has anybody got some insight on the portland mix and the other indgredients that go in with it,to make it stronger.I also want to stain the concrete tikis is it better to use the stuff you mix in the concrete mix or the concrete stain you can put on afterwards.Thanks Scaperman

talk to Seamus, he makes killer concrete tikis and fountains.

My mom does some cast concrete tikis with hypertufa, which is just a mix of portland cement, perlite and peat. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypertufa
It makes it lighter weight than solid concrete, but is still strong. The peat can give it an organic aged look, which may or may not be what you want.
Feel free to PM me if you want more info, but there is a lot of stuff on the web on it. She's done some dyeing of the concrete, but seems to prefer to add it later for her stuff, but she's looking for definition, not necessarily one solid color.

Thanks Mieko,The hypertufa might be the stuff I'm looking for, it's light weight but strong.My goal is to make the two tiki poles for my sand volleyball court they will hold the net up,I might pipe them with smoke or fire coming out of them also.

Seamus told me that if you want that volcanic look and maybe it has to be thick walled enough, add salt rock to the mixture. The salt will over time melt out leaving holes. Never tried it but souds super cool.

The next time that I make one, I do want to add the fibers that make the cement super strong, not that I've had a problem with strengh. I want my cement tikis to last two hundred years.

I hear ya Teakey, That's a good idea with the salt might try it on a sample piece.Wayne from Mai Tiki makes some awesome concrete tikis, i would have him do them for me but i think it would be pretty pricey.

I'm going to be making concrete tikis (big ones) to place around the ranch. I plan on using QuikWall, a vertical bonding cement by the Quikrete company. QuikWall includes fiberglass fibers that cause it to stay in place (it doesn't slump on vertical surfaces). I'm going to try adding rock salt, dye, and peet to the mix to give it an aged look and lighten it. Anyone else ever use QuikWall?

QuikWall sounds great. When your trying to add an oatmeal type material straight up (|) can be sucky. Better is (). I would pay almost any price when I sweating in the sun and pissed off at it after six hour deep into the work. I have had it where I spend an hour on a section and then it decided to slide off. Worth a try.

Here's a link to the product: QuikWall

Here's a picture of a pond we built, showing the walls and waterfall area before we applied the spray-on liner. All the white is QuikWall, which we use on walls to fill spaces and create a smooth surface: QuikWall on pond wall

Because of the fiberglass fibers and high lime content, it has to be put on with gloved hands.

Before we actually spray in the liner, we have to burn off the fiberglass fibers that are sticking out (Burning off fibers). I'm not sure if I'd have to do this for tikis.

Because of our pond building I have a lot of experience with QuikWall. Our typical way of using it is to fill a mortar pan about half full, then push the powdery QuikWall toward one end. We put water in the other end, then using gloved hands, we "drag" some of the powdered QuikWall into the water and mix it into a paste of whatever consistency we need for that handfull. By leaving the QuikWall in powder form, and mixing it one handful at a time, we have total control of how thick or thin each bit is. That's one of the reasons I think it'll be perfect for tikis. I can mix a really putty-thick handful for a nose or brow ridge, and a thinner sour-cream consistency when I want to create smooth, flat large areas.

I would think you'd have to be careful with rock salt if it's gonna be near any plants.
Foam block and a hard shell, for 10 footers.

http://www.univfoam.com/index.php

They have outdoor coatings that you can brush or spray and it paints well. You can get huge with no weight, and it's as hard as concrete. Portland at 10 feet has got weight on it wet. You may have to have some steel inside or it's gonna get messy.

Tiki Diablo has done some big ones at The Mission Tiki:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=20044&forum=7&hilite=mission%20tiki

Laffo

I would like to make some concrete moais or tiki totem pole for my garden and was thinking of using the carboard tube style concrete forms

http://www.packagepavement.com/quiktube_use.html

and using paper mache to form on that for the features then cementing over it on the outside of that. Has anyone done something like this before and can give me some advice?

I like the idea of the tiki being hollow for weight and so that it can be 'lantern' style so I can put what I want inside of it, candles, tiki torches, or make them as planters (chia tiki style :P )