Hi PR I know they say to use damp sand and damp peat but I prefer to use bone dry materials except rock. But I do mist my projects like crazy right after I form them. I might be compromising strength but my test bricks now several months old are darned strong. I can't even get them to break by freezing them in my freezer. If you can make half balls on the outside of light fixtures 'gluing them together with a 'mortar' heavy on the admix is easy. Shaping the mud on the ball can be tricky because it can slump. I use a dry mix and trowel it uphill on the globe until it appears round. You can always gring off the fat bottom with a rasp to get the halfball round. I have more half balls in plastic bags around here right now than anything else. For the big ones I'm doing a 1 inch layer of strong perlite concrete first using grey portland. I will then apply my finish coat to that. For me right now I'm trying to get a strong ball but as light and thin as possible. All this testing takes sooo much time. You need to cure a month before you really know what you have. The recipe I used for the pink ball seems to be good to go. I have 2 month old bricks of the stuff that are very strong and unbelievably light. What's even better is unlike peat and vermiculite they do not absorb huge amounts of water weight when they get wet. I like this cryogenic perlite so much I've ordered 10 bags for winter. That is a lot of perlite.:) Considering it's volume it really isn't much more money than playsand.

I did it in both of my garages. Its well worth it in my opinion. I bought the paint and sealer through Sherwin Williams commercial division. The cost was about $500 (wholesale)I think. Prep is extremly important. You can find all the applicication details on the internet. I used grey epoxy with multi colored specs with clear coat over it all. DO NOT use some cheap store brand paint. It will wear off quickly due to warm tires. Pay more...get more.

For epoxy set anchors, the concrete can be 1 day old, just drill slowly and use a 1/4" masonry bit for a pilot hole to avoid blowing out the green concrete. A rotorhammer with a 5/8" bit into green concrete will cause surface/edge failure. I use a 1/4" followed by 3/8" then 1/2" and drill carefully when working with green concrete. For wedge anchors, kwik bolts, tapcon, masonry screws, or any mechanical type of concrete anchor, the concrete can not be green. It needs to have at least achieved its 7 day compressive strength value. This means you will be safe if you wait 7 days. Depending on the climate and particular location, in direct sun, hot weather, the initial cure strength will happen much faster, in probably 3 days.

Jane in NY, after reading your remarks, that is when I decided to make the 12x14 approx garden shed LOOK LIKE it might pass for a real comfortable playhouse OR a little artist studio, sitting away from the house up hill in the corner of the back yard. I misspoke when I said I'd like to turn it into a playhouse, because all I am proposing to do is to stage it where it will have multiple and attractive functions. It is already wired and plumbed, so it is half way there. And the person commenting on the cork, I realize it is not a mainstream flooring material, so we'll do the obvious thing and put in some carpet in a neutral color. The carpet now on the floor in the study/4th bedroom is the same as the carpet on the family room floor, and it is gross beyond words. Plus, it is over 20 years old now and horribly worn. I appreciate the time everyone took to consider this question. Sometimes I get tunnel vision. But each reply is now in the hands of my DH, who will ultimately make the decisions about marketing his house. Having lived in it from the early 60s and raised his three children there, he is naturally quite attached to it, and has customized it a lot. I'm not as familiar with the r/e demands of the New England area, so cannot judge which improvements are considered standard to the area. And you are right, we don't NEED to sell the house, but we are getting too old to keep running back and forth from north to south taking care of two houses. We want to spend more time being newly weds and exploring the country, instead of maintaining houses vacant for half the year.