Help me fix my statue...

October 29, 2009 8:17 PM

My cement statue fell apart after 50 plus years of standing around enigmatically. How can I put it back together?

I have this small cement statue, at least 50 years old. I know that because it's one of the first things I remember seeing when I was knee high to a snake. It's about 2.5 feet tall and seems to be a kind of female Mayan diety, if they had such.
Over the years, cracks from freeze/heat cycles developed into gaping splits that have finally made her fall apart into several large chunks.
I think there must be some substance I could patch her up with, like super-cement-bondo kind of stuff.
Does such a stuff exist? Will Maria ever again cast her serene gaze around my yard?

posted by diode to media & arts (7 comments total)

Apparently there is epoxy glue made for concrete. Maybe you need to glue it together one piece at a time?

If you were having trouble Googling, it might be because you should be searching on the word concrete, not cement.
posted by cabingirl at 8:28 PM on October 29

Metal pins for structural bracing combined with concrete epoxy is probably the best way to go.
posted by Behemoth at 8:33 PM on October 29 [1 favorite]

Once you do get her back together (would mortar work?) consider moving her indoors.
posted by rikschell at 6:14 AM on October 30

Yep, two part concrete epoxy and short pins made from threaded stainless rod is the way to go. Use a masonry drill to drill holes for the pins, try to embed them about a 1/2" or so on either side, fill the holes with epoxy, smear a little on the surfaces to be mated, press together and wipe off the excess that squirts out. Make sure all the epoxy is cleaned up before it sets, because nothing will remove it once it has.
posted by electroboy at 6:43 AM on October 30

Please permit me to encourage you to use nothing other than JB weld. It is the finest epoxy product in existence.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 11:04 AM on October 30

Okay thanks for the information.

Drilling pins looks like a strong solution. Fitting the pins and pieces seems like a bit of a puzzle. If I have two sections apart, how would I get the holes properly aligned for the pins? I could do one side with pins and then use the set pins to mark the other side before drilling...that's the best way I can figure out to do that.

Before it split completely apart, I had hoped there was some magic plaster/plastic/goop I could fill in the gaps with, sort of filling up the interior that would adhere to the concrete and provide structural strength.

At this point I probably need the pins but is there some way to round off the inevitable gaps that will be left along the edges of the fitted together sections of statue? Is concrete the best way to go?
posted by diode at 2:15 PM on October 30

Sodium silicate will glue concrete together, then fill gaps with a paste of concrete mixed with waterglass, inexpensive.
posted by hortense at 10:14 PM on October 30