Well, I was going to leave a comment about how I have a couple fake rocks in the yard covering some pool equipment, but the thread has deteriorated into bad pun boulder-dash.
Large ones, depending on positioning, might also be for protective purposes. Make it a lot harder for someone to turn the place into a drive-in.
Not directly germane to the question of why there are fake rocks around, but related.
Several years ago the town where I was working had some very picturesque outcroppings o rock. One day I passed by and saw that someone had carefully cleaned the area, and the started putting up dividers to separate the rock face into conveniently-sized sections. They carefully took impressions of each section, using silicone or some similar flexible casting compound. They ended up with a complete set of molds they could use to fabricate duplicate “rocks” using plaster or fiberglas or something.
I think they paid the owner or the own for the “rights” to the rock.
Hot Springs has a whole section of the uptown area, that is a natural giant rock wall.
Pieces fall down. And alarmed folks
They been assured the City is on it.
Depending on the size, an artificial boulder can be a lot cheaper than the real thing. If you want a style/color of stone that only come from five states away, the cost of the boulder and freight can get very large, very quickly. If it’s some 6-7’ rock at 13-16 tons, it might be the only thing on the truck and more than double the cost. Plus, boulders that size are comparatively rare on the wholesale market so it might be an expensive hassle to find one. A fiberglass or other fake boulder can be to the design specs you want and much lighter to ship.
I’ve seen some that are lightweight and made of some kind of spongy material.
We have a 3’x3’x3’ cube real boulder near our barn purchased and placed there as an aid for getting on a horse. Our horses are trained to stand by it so we can mount to ride bareback.
Last summer my gf told me she wanted the boulder moved about a foot and a half over from where it sat.
I have a 6’ long pry bar. I figured I could budge it over. Nope. I asked a friend to bring his 6’ long pry bar over to help me. Nope. My friend called his 28 year old son to come help us and he brought his friend. There wasn’t enough room for all four of us, so me and my friend stood back and observed as the young gym rats barely accomplished the task.
The four of us then put away a case of beer recovering from the exertion.
A 3’x3’x3’ boulder weighs around 4000 pounds. More than a Toyota RAV4.
Wow. I was initially surprised by how hard it was to move.
My first encounter with a fake rock was at the 1982 World’s Fair in Knoxville, TN. There was an Aztec style “stone” staircase (sculpted concrete?) in what I think was Mexico’s pavilion. There was a slightly raised “stone” block balustrade on either side of the stairs. I stepped on the balustrade and discovered it was fiberglass. My foot went right though it. I broke a World’s Fair exhibit. Sorry, Mexico!
Plus a RAV4 has wheels.
I went to high school just around the corner from there. Probably the (admittedly infrequent) landslides and floods concern them quite a great deal more.
Depends on where you parked it…
Haven’t we had this discussion already, that placing a boulder for cars to run into (so they won’t run into your living room instead) can get you into some liability if somebody wracks up their car (and themselves) on the rock that you put there just for that purpose?
Maybe they were dentistry students.
Too late.
How proletarian. Marble.
So it was worth it, congratulations!
I have single-handledly moved a solid granite ball over 4’ in diameter, it was easy. It floated on a water film. I found it amazing how much weight you can move when there is no friction (that is not me on the picture, and it was bigger than that):
Well schist.
Those fake rocks were left over from the fake Moon Landing.
What do you mean when you say it floated? Boulders tend to sink into the ground. If you did succeed in suspending it, say from a crane just to illustrate, or a smooth round ball like in the photo without much contact with the ground, then at that point you can push it around with your arms.
That’s Colorado