Expert: Sam Kelly - 5/7/2009

Question
Hi Sam,

How are you?  I'm hoping you can help me with a question about cement.  I recently bought my mom a Virgin Mary cement statue and it is the centerpiece of my flower garden.  It sits on a hexagon-shaped decorative brick, which sits on a 2 1/2 foot pole.  The platform (which is the decorative brick) is flat and the statue (which is about 100 + lbs) sits pretty good on the platform.  I am so afraid that after a windy day or storm that I will find my statue broken in half on the ground.  Even though the statue is 100 lbs, it's weight is distributed throughout the statue, which stands about 2 feet tall and I feel can be easily knocked over.  I would like to find an easy way to secure the foundation of the statue and the only thing I can think of is to use cement.  I would rather not use cement because in order to keep the statue looking nice, I probably have to re-paint it every year or so and to do that I would need to remove it from the platform.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  

Thanks,

Lynn

Answer
Hi Lynn, dig a square shape in the ground and add sand, sprinkle cement powder on the sand, lightly moisten with some water and place 4 large outdoor paving tiles on top and tap all down untill they are level, brush sand on the tiles so it goes down in the cracks between them, this is now your base. Find a product from a building supplier that will join cement to cement(I am in Australia). Use the product to join the statue to the tiles. Tent pegs or any other similar securing system can be used to drive into the ground at all four corners(or as many as you want) to secure the structure to the ground.

Sam