Such an elegant birdbath, beautiful! I can imagine you're worried about the cracks. Not sure if it's still of any use to you, but I found the following: http://www.ehow.com/how_8378090_repair-cement-garden-statues.html
Thanks Gardenelf. They suggest an Epoxy and I see there's several brands made for concrete repair. It's supposed to be rainy this weekend, so I'm guessing it will be at least a couple more weekends before I get some warm, dry weather. Plenty of time to shop around.
Cherylad; that was a super find. Yes those are some major cracks. You would want to keep the moister out of those cracks especially in the winter. The moisture could get down in the cracks, expand when it gets cold and pop off those areas. I know you said you have wanted to paint it. The other are right in saying that every few years you would have to repaint it. If I was you I would stain the cement. Behr makes a great product that comes in a lot of colors. It soaks into the surface of the cement coloring. Then you put a cement sealer over the stain. I would never paint anything concrete again when the stain holds up so much better. Gardenelfs link to Ask How website is great. In the search bar for the site just type in;; Staining cement garden statues. The direction are all there.
Thanks for the info Tooty. The stuff I got says not to apply if temps are near freezing... or if it's going to rain. Well... my temps have been getting down to freezing at night and there's a chance of rain for the next week. Once it warms up I'll get to those cracks. If they stuff matches the color pretty close, then I'll be okay without painting it. Guess time will tell.
So far have this bird bath for 25 years with no problems. Do empty any water if I know the temperatures will drop even in Florida.
Love your bath Sueanne... and the way you have it set up. The weather finally cooperated enough for me to apply that crack repair stuff. I know it looks much better... now lets see how it holds up.
That is just amazing! So beautiful. Have you ever tried peroxide for cleaning? A few drops will keep the water clean and is safe for critters.
Thank you Dawn. I'm still so tickled to have it in my yard. The water is looking a little dirty here (pollen has been heavy). So next time I give it a cleaning, I'll try peroxide. Thanks for the tip.
I would really worry leaving large amounts of bleach in a bird bath, depending how large your bath is . I use a solution of 1 to 10, the bleach being the one and the other parts water. Let it sit for a bit and then drain it and rinse thoroughly. I do have a garage sink and I carry mine inside. I did use the bleach outdoors and I had to end up putting stone around the base area so I could clean it and dump and rinse. My plants were seeing the effect of the bleach, even though it was a low amount. Beautiful birdbath and well worth the time cleaning it up...
Thanks Sherry. No plants will be around this, so dumping the bleach will not be a problem. It does stay "stained-looking", I've been having to clean it often, which has got to be good for the birds.
We have one just like this....it belonged to my husbands grandmother. We ALSO have a triple tier one that my husband bought at an auction.
I might think about improvising a 'hat' of some kind in the winter to keep freezing water out of repaired cracks. Um, um a hat could be a lawn & leaf or construction bag...
I went through my pennies and found the OLD ones (pre 1975) and tossed them into the bowl... it seems to kill the growth of any algae and the debris settles and is easy to rinse out instead of scrubbing it off... just a thought to keep the bowl clean.
