We have several concrete retaining walls by the pool area the enclose raised flower beds and also in the very front of the house along the sidewalk. I want to explore the possibility of mosaic-ing them myself. Has anyone done this? I haven;t mined Youtube yet because I'd like to see any projects the artistic folks on here might have done and hear your methods and your tips. I know my daughter's 5th grade class made a mosaic pole (using a large bore PVC pipe) years ago as a class gift to their school, we donated materials but other mom's actually did the project. They used caulk to stick the glass on if I recall correctly then grouted it with the commercially available mosaic grouting. I think. I don't think they also used caulk as grout. I know it will be a huge project and I already have so many plant related things going but it could also be fun. Even though we pressure wash the walls they always look less than appealing.

I've never done it Gina but it would sure be beautiful. I just read the other day they have stick on tile now. Not that I would recommend it for outdoor use but I didn't know that. I know when we were in Mexico many years ago, many of the outdoor walls, walking areas, etc., were tiled and so beautiful.

I want to use the irregular pieces of glass. I don;t even know where to get them! I will have to research this a lot. When we were at the beach recently a house in the neighborhood we rented in had a single mosaic column by the front door, it popped out and caught the eye immediately, just the right touch to really liven things up you can see it in this photo behind the palm. This is where my idea came from

That is absolutely beautiful and it does remind me of when we were in Mexico.

So we were just at the beach (a different one) this weekend and stayed in a cottage with these great mosaics in the yard. This is EXACTLY what I want to do. Just have to figure out how. These are big heavy pieces attached to a concrete block wall

Oh Gina - Those are BEAUTIFUL

beautiful

will be watching to see if & when you figure out how to do this

Yes we will

Way too cool!

The easiest way would be to do your mosaic on a piece of Wedi board or 1/2" wallboard and then hang it when it's done.

You can work directly on the wall but it's much harder. Use GE Silicone 2 as an outdoor adhesive. You can use tiles, broken plates and pottery, glass gems and stained glass. A lot of stained glass shops sell their scrap glass, and it can also be purchased on Ebay or Etsy.

If you use stained glass, don't make the pieces large. If you keep them smaller, they won't crack. After it's all done you can use standard tile grout mixed up just as if you are tiling a floor or backsplash.

Wall board can get wet?? It rains every day here in summer. I will look up Wedi board!

The wallboard isn't exposed to the weather after you glue on all the tiles or glass and grout it. It's what they use for showers...special waterproof wallboard.

I have my husband's observatory sign hanging on the outside of his observatory and it's been almost 8 years. I have a fish pond scene also hanging on a wall outdoors and it's been there about 5 years. Not a piece has fallen off, but if it did, it's no problem to fix.

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!! I looked, they have this stuff at Lowes cheap!

Yes, it's cheap. For indoor stuff I use Polyseamseal clear caulk, and it's also available at the big box stores.

Just jump in and wing it. I love to add bling with glass gems or beads, but that makes grouting a bit more difficult.

We have a horrible electric box in our back yard area. We took out a glass shower door and replaced it, so I'm thinking of turning the shower door into a mosaic mural to hide it. I have a rock garden there with sempervivums and sedums and it will look much nicer.

Gina, that caused me to recall a neighbor, that'd done a "project' making like a stepping stone, with broken glazed pottery,& chinaware of " blue & white" pieces, all together & that really did look nice. But, then, I've also wondered how they did ancient mosaic works, on floors & end up discovering them, nearly entirely intact, after thousands of year.

You just may want to try doing a little research, on methods employed, from the past, as to exactly how they managed, to get some, to be really of some greatly , long lasting, materials & their methods, used, that allowed them to stay .so well preserved. There must be more to it, than just covered i nlayers of dirt, or even last, under water, for such long periods of time.

One thing I forgot to say is that after your mosaic is grouted, it should have a couple of coats of a good tile sealer since your area is much more wet than we are in the Southwest.

Thank you for all the pointers! My husband is down with the project. I'm going to take before and after photos. The walls I want to decorate was last painted maybe 12 years ago? I will have to pressure wash and paint them again. IF it ever stops raining.

Great! Remember that if you don't like something, you can always remove it and do it differently. Flickr has a lot of different mosaics, and you can search through them to get ideas.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/...

How do you hang it/attach it??

I'm sure there are a lot of ways, but what I do is leave 4 small areas free of tiles or glass. It's bolted to the wall through those holes. Then you take a photo just in case you ever want to remove it. You'll know where the holes are! When it's firmly on the wall, you put your tiles or glass over the bolt holes. They're all covered up and no one can see how it's attached to the wall.

If you used Wedi board, they have special installation kits. They are put on the front of the mosaic before you ever start tiling. They go through to the back and just hang on the wall like a picture. There are usually at least 4 to 6 hangers on a large piece. You can see the kits here:
http://www.mosaicsmalti.com/We...
They work really well because the hook is sealed underneath your tiling.