Thread: Help - Drywall Joint Compound

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I cut out 5 wood tombstones today. Front and back with 1X3's to seperate them. Goal here was to give them a little dimension and to allow them to stand up on their own. They look pretty good, however I left the curved areas open as you can't really bend wood easily.

So I went back around and put on some drywall tape followed by a layer of joint compound on one. So far it looks pretty good. But my big question is, how weatherproof is this going to be? Is there a sealer I should be using?

It seems to me that monster mud with the exterior paint helps to weatherize, but I am not sure this solution would be thick enough.

Joint compound is for interior use with drywall, and though it's a great choice for adding texture to a wide variety of props, it isn't going to offer any real weatherproofing. It will suffer damage in moisture and rain the same as a wall in a flooded house.

If this were me, I'd continue texturing with the joint compound until the stones had the look I wanted.

Then for weatherproofing and further texture I'd paint them with Dry-Lok, the basement sealant. Get the gray colored stuff. Adds a nice stone texture, made to seal basements, hard to beat. Couple of folks have been using it on tombstones around here, and it looks fantastic.
At that point it's a matter of dry-brushing and detailing.

Thanks Spats! I will have to pick some of that up the next time im at the hardware store. Which is way to many times a week!

Yeah, I totally agree with Spats.

Man, the trips to Lowe's/JoAnne's/Michael's are a never-ending thing! My wife tracks all of my purchases with Quicken and I get to hear how much Halloween cost us each year! (The numerous receipts get stuffed into a ziploc baggie for her.) Youch!!...a slap of reality sometimes.

-Doc

I agree with the dry-lok. Seal them with this.

The cost of Halloween is going up. The tots will get scared and make it all worth while.

I actually use waterproof silicone caulking (like the stuff you'd get for around the bathtub) and then a good coat of latex paint. You can squish that stuff into the cracks and smooth it with your fingers and a little water, water clean up and it's waterproof once it dries. Cover it with a good coat of latex and you're set!

(I know drylok is what everyone recommends, and it's very very good, but it is also a bit pricey.... and I'm cheap. )

I have used joint compound as well, and hit that with a good coat of paint and it was fine too. It's not as flexible as the caulking tho, so I don't use it for stuff that might be stressed.

I've got props made with this method that are still holding up going on 4 years.

Just an update. Added joint compound to all but one (still need to cut out the vacancy sign on that one). This extra step I think really add something to it! Now if I could just find a cool way to add 3 dimensional letters / designs without spending hours on the jigsaw.