Gap filling question

[Tom Porter]

I had some cedar branches as a result of pruning and decide to mess around with them. So I made a doormat with cedar slices. Thus far, I'm happy with how it's turning out. I used contact cement to adhere the slices to a scrap piece of heavy rubber cloth (salvaged from a treadmill) and then squeezed a little wood glue into the gaps between the slices to help kind of lock them together in case the contact cement doesn't hold well. My only complaint is that I'm not super thrilled with how the gaps look on close inspection. Of course, it's a bloody doormat, so perhaps I'll decide I don't care (who's going to look that closely at it anyway). But having said that, any ideas how I could fill the gaps? Ideally, I don't want the fill to be flush with the slices. A little depth would give dirt a place to fall off shoes walking across the mat. I thought about epoxy, having used it before to fill a variety of different types of gaps and cracks but frankly, I don't want to pour it across the whole mat and have to sand until doomsday to get rid of it, nor do I want to try and carefully feed the epoxy just into the gaps, which would also take more time than I want to spend on it. Is there anything that could be brushed into the gaps dry and then wetted to harden, kind of like polymeric sand? I thought about polymeric sand but haven't even used it on a sidewalk, let alone something like this. Anywho, even if I decide to leave it as is, I'd be curious to see what ideas smarted people than me have.

doormat.JPG

[Frederick Skelly]

Yes, a good polymeric sand sounds like the right answer for your goals. I haven't used it either, but it looks straight forward to use.

[Mel Fulks]

Best I can do is suggest making it wall art. Maybe add some bandsawed "3D" lettering ...."welcome" or your name. And it might be amusing to observe how often the contact cement tosses a section to the floor. It does make an interesting pattern ,reminds me of highly organized bacteria!

[Lee Schierer]

If your pieces are say 3/8" thick, you could apply a layer of slow set epoxy say 1/8" deep and start placing your branch pieces starting in one corner and working toward the other edges. Each time you press a piece into the epoxy, some squeeze out will occur. If you work by tilting the piece as you place it, you should be able to work the excess epoxy out in front of the completed pieces. If the epoxy starts to get too deep, scoop some off and continue. This should give you enough epoxy for a good bond and also enough squeeze out to fill the gaps between pieces without covering the tops. You might need to weigh down completed areas to keep them from floating up in the epoxy.

[Tom Porter]

Thanks for the input. The epoxy advice is sound; however, it relies on someone who doesn't jump into the project before thinking it through. Apparently, that's not me. In other words, they're already glued down, so I can't use a bed of epoxy. Live and learn. I appreciate the advice nevertheless.

[John Ziebron]

It seems to me that using something like epoxy would try and make this mat solid with no give. All the doormats I've ever seen are flexible, which is why the OP used the rubber belt from a treadmill. I would think something like a good 100% silicon caulk would be better and allow the mat to stay somewhat flexible. And you can buy it in different colors.

[Charles Lent]

Door mats are supposed to have gaps and a rough surface in order to clean the loose debris off your shoes. Why try to make it smooth? It won't do it's job if it's smooth.

Charley