Light-weight Mosaic Boards LWMB
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OzMosaics stocks Marmox LWMB - Light Weight Mosaic Board.
It's what's under your mosaic that counts!
Mosaic art can be heavy and in some situations you may need a light weight mosaic substrate.
MAANZ members and professional mosaicists often select LWMB for exhibition works as it is a lighter option for murals and postage. Consider LWMB next time you make a mosaic.
Contact Dave for advice or place your order in our online mosaic shop.
LWMB - mosaic boards provide a strong, waterproof, long-lasting substrate for mosaic decoration. Our boards are suitable for covering in tiles or over-the-top tesserae! An ideal substrate for thin bed tiling on walls and floors or even render finishes!
The mosaic boards are of high performance, waterproof extruded polystyrene, faced with fibreglass mesh embedded into a cement polymer mortar on each side, which adds extra strength and rigidity to the board. You need to select a suitable base depended on the mosaic size, weight, support required, hanging or installation requirements and location.
LWMB Board Sizes: available in 1cm and 2 cm thickness from OzMosaics Mosaic Shop
- 30cm x 30cm
- 30cm x 60cm
- 60cm x 60cm
- 60cm x 120cm
Please contact us for special orders.
*The hanging hardware mountings must be installed in the board before applying mosaic to the front of the LWMB.
*It's easy to install your hanging mounting and hardware but OzMosaics will install your hardware if requested. Please contact Dave for special orders and pricing.
Many different materials are suitable for your mosaic base/substrate.
Always consider the project, the weight of the tesserae to be applied to the base, the location, indoor vs outdoor, weather conditions, which glue will be suitable, grout selection, tesserae, installation requirements and wear and tear/health and safety. MDF (Medium Density Fibreboard) , cement sheeting, glass, metal, wood, LWMB (Light weight mosaic board) must be considered on their mosaic merits.
If you need more info, please contact us. We can source the materials, cut materials to size for your special project - ie bases made to order. Contact us for custom base prices and details.
Weight example:
30cm x 30cm x 1cm width approx Weight = 230gm
Benefits:
- Lightweight base - takes the hassles out of weighty substrates.
- A great solution for mosaics to be displayed at art shows.
- Save money on freight and postage.
- Makes your mosaic lighter to carry around!
- It's durable, waterproof and easy to cut to shape.
- Use a saw or Stanley knife to cut the board into preferred size.
Purchase our fittings for hardware hanging (remember to purchase more fittings if you cut into more pieces!). Fittings are only required if you wish to hang your mosaic. You may wish to screw or glue your mosaic in it's installation site.
Purchase Thinset (cement based adhesive) from OzMosaics- (#335) spread a coat over the sides and top of the board surface to strengthen and cover the hardware - gives a smooth finish.
If you are transferring a mosaic made by the mosaic fibreglass mesh method, your board will be even stronger!
Suggestions by mosaic artist, Sandy Robertson.
-Purchase the mosaic rubber float spreader and the notched trowel for ease of applying the mesh mosaic or spreading thinset topping on your mosaic board.
-Purchase fibreglass mesh as a joining mesh if you wish to join boards together to make a larger board. Use the thinset as the mesh adhesive.
-Want a thicker board? Use thinset to glue to pieces of board together!
-Joining two or more pieces of board? Use a strip of fibreglass mesh over the join, front and back and then coat in thinset.
TIP!
Planning to use translucent or clear glass as tesserae on your LWMB? Give the LWMB a render of white thinset (cement based adhesive - or other special effects) before you start the mosaic application.
By rendering your LWMB with a suitable colour of thinset, you can create wonderful effects beneath your translucent tesserae. Sandy has lots of tips and tricks on using render to create mosaic special effects. Join CLUB mOz and the Mosaic Community ARENA for discussions on these topics.
INSTALLATION OF HARDWARE:
Mountings, countersunk screw, 40mm washer, small washer, D-ring, nut. Weight – 40gms per set of two
Price = $2.50 per set of two mountings - available in shop.
- -Select where you want to place the D-rings and then punch or drill a hole approx 4mm
- -Insert the screw through the 40mm washer so that it sits flush
- -Insert the screw into the hole in the Marmox board
- -Place the small washer onto the protruding screw
- -Place the D-ring onto the screw
- -Attach the nut and tighten with a Philips driver in the screw head and a pair of pliers on the nut. Don't over tighten.
- The hanging wire is also included with the hardware mounting kit!
This photo shows a 30x30 board with d-rings installed and wire.
Other shows plain board ready for mosaic application or hardware installation.
-*It is recommended to put a coating of THINSET over the screw head and washer on the mosaics side of the board, and along the exposed edges of the board.
Front hardware mounting.
Sides are raw - edges should be coated with thinset to protect and complete the mosaic installation.
Note:
MDF is a dense, light weight base board made of wood pulp mixed with resin. It is not suitable for outdoor mosaics as it is not water resistant. For outdoor mosaic art bases, select from LWMB, glass (suitable for mosaics), or a layer of cement sheeting over an existing base, or cement sheeting screwed to a wall.
