Do NOT drop that while moving it…lol
:tup: Looks awesome Josh.
Do you need to brace the floor in your Kitchen at all?
will do. I’m not 100% sure on what grit i want to sand with. Basically the more coarse i go…the more aggregate i’ll expose. I wanna keep the overall color light…so i don’t want to expose too much aggregate. I’m thinking i will start off with 800grit > 1500grit > 3000grit diamond grinding pads. I made a little 12"x12" sample piece of concrete to help determine the final look.
yeah, a single bowl deep stainless undermount.
the 450lb piece is the one i’m most concerned with. lol.
I’m not planning on it…i’m only adding about 20lbs per square foot. A refrigerator is more than that.
are you gonna use an angle grinder or something to polish?
IIRC, you need to treat this kind of counter with mineral spirits right? Will that affect the overall color much?
essentially. It’s a hand held 4" grinder wheel with variable speed and water feed.
Never heard anything about treating with mineral spirts. Once it’s polished i will put a sealer on it then wax/buff. the wax will bring out deeper colors though.
Uhg, the one we built for my grandma’s house was such a bitch to get into position, although being located between two end walls made it more of a bitch then your typical island style counter top.
you can inlay me anytime you want, baby.
looks awesome. you can do this for my house next year :tup:
as already stated granite is heavier than concrete lol. there’s really nothing to worry about. we’ve had to move in 800lb pieces of granite into a kitchen before. it’s really not “that” heavy.
just scribe the walls if anything is out of square, it’s bound to happen. no house is perfect unless you JUST built it lol
how are you seaming this? or do you not have any seams. i forgot what your layout was and im not going back to check atm because i already typed this :lol:
edit: nvm i see at the sink
deal.
it’s not the weight i’m concerned with as much as it is getting the “L” shape through the doorway which is also at the top of stairs from the garage. I’m sure it’ll get done though.
Thats impressive! Its crazy how old school stuff like that is making a come back. Good to see too.
And you should have “inlaid” a Lafengas somewhere…just riding the bandwagon thats all 
^ i was actually racking my brain a bit with doing some sort of decorative inlay, but something that wouldn’t “date” the work and look tacky in a few years as styles change. I stuck with the idea of only doing the trivet. I figured cleaner was better in this case. Besides, as a first time project i was most intereted in getting the concrete to pour right and learn the basic skills before getting too creative. Kept it simple.
Looks amazing Josh. Poured concrete has become more and more popular these days. I’m sure in most instances when its DIY’d it comes out pretty flawed, at least when looked at close up, kind of like when people claim they can paint their own cars. Seems clear you won’t be one of those.
I’d love to give it a try in a basement bar or something. My balls are nowhere near as large as yours! Can’t wait to see the finished product.
so what is the projected cost of a diy project such as this one?
Thanks… and “flaws” are pretty common with even the experts, but that’s whats nice about concrete. People like to leave the flaws just to give it a nice rustic, earthly look. In some cases, they are desired. I am pretty anxious to try a bar top just to get a bit more crazy with ideas…the time will come.
A professional charges about $75-130 per square foot. I estimate that this job would have cost me about $6,000 to $7,000.
So far my costs:
Concrete addatives for strength/color/water reducer etc: $200
Melamine board: $100
Melamine Strips: $40
Plexiglass: $55
Bags of Concrete: $95
Bag of White Portland Cement: $25
Decorative Aggrigate: $12
Concrete Polisher and Diamond Pads: $180
Concrete Wax, Polish, Sealer: $60
Pink Foam Board: $30
Misc. Hardware (Tape, screws, brackets, PVC pipe): $30
Stainless Steel Flatbar (inlay): $40
Silicon Caulk: $0
CNC work: $0
Rebar: $0
Total Material: $867
How much do you want to make one?
that’s a good question. Obviously that would depend on size and craziness… but i’d be up for it to build a portfolio. I’m looking for a money making hobbie for my “spare time” when/if i move down to West Palm Beach FL.
---------- Post added at 02:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:17 PM ----------
just a little update… I worked on grinding the bottom side (now the top) so i can have a clean surface before I flip the pieces over and start grinding:
This.
Yeah, we paid $8000(4 years ago) for the rustic, Earthy look. lol If my wife wasn’t crackin’ the whip I may have taken the time to do it myself.
You should get one of the rubber boots for your grinder that has the hookup for a shop vac, really cuts down on the dust.
+1 on the rustic look