Lawn Statuary Repair - Questions about repairing a concrete statue

[gwizah]

Hello RPF, Longtime lurker, haven't asked a question in here in awhile but I was wondering if anyone could offer some advice on lawn statue repairs?

I sculpt and have experience with wet clay, plaster, epoxy putties, and polymer clay but I have yet to work with concrete. However, a relative of mine had an icon of a Catholic saint that is dear to them and asked if I could do a repair job/re-paint on it.

Statue is about 3-1/2 feet tall, concrete, and has some cracked/damaged pieces. Also, there is evidence of a previous repair after a serious cleaning where there are portions of concrete or plaster that have come loose/sloughed off leaving this saint looking patchy. I was wondering if anyone has re-filled in damages like this in statuary and what technique/process you used.

I was thinking the way I'd approach it was:

1. Clean thoroughly. Done!
2. Identify major damage and patch fill in larger areas with epoxy putty directly on concrete (will epoxy putty like APOXIE work for this?)
3. Fill thinner areas with thinner sheets of epoxy.
4. Sand areas of repair to blend.
5. Use a watered-down slurry of plaster to brush on thin coats and build up surface to even everything out.
6. paint with high-quality exterior latex paint
7. seal with a high-quality UV-resistant selaer.

Does this seem like a good approach? Any suggestions/shortcuts or tips that can helpwould be greatly appreciated. Will post some pictures of the process as well.

 

[udog]

Have you considered patching with cement?
In any case trying to create mechanical locking where you patch will help, this could be done drilling or creating a harsher texture where you patch.
I don't like the idea of using the slurry plaster over that, specially for exterior. Also itś weaker than cement and could crack over it due to many reasons.
As for paint, there are good exterior paints around (epoxy based and others), maybe better that latex paint, are you talking about the rubber paint used to prevent leaks on roofs etc?
Just thoughts.

 

[weaselflinger]

I would not use plaster to patch, repair, coat concrete in general and definitely not for exterior use. There are plenty of concrete patching materials that would be more appropriate.

 

[13doctorwho]

Places like Home Depot and Lowe's sell cement "patch" kits. It's made for repairing damage to driveways and sidewalks. I think it would be good for this.

There are primers made specifically for cement, I would do that instead of plaster. After a few good layers of primer you can paint it with any similar formula outdoor paints you want.

 

[13doctorwho]

By the way, look for videos on patching nail damage on foundations. I pulled the carpet and tack trips out of my closet and the nails tore up the cement. I used the patching compound to fix the holes. I then primed and painted it instead of installing carpet in a mostly unseen space.

 

[rjenkinsgb]

You could try giving it a coat or two of sodium silicate after the repairs are done, but before painting?

That soaks in and reacts with the cement to strengthen it, and with enough coats to fill the pores, makes it waterproof so less likely to crack due to frost.

I'd try it on a bit of something non-critical first though, to see how well the paint then bonds to it?