LOL AT ALL OF YOU FAGGOTS STARTING PROJECTS THAT CONSIST OF HARD WORK!
sonny, feel free to call or stop by. I’ve been doing a ton of research on this stuff as we are doing our kitchen now. One of the easiest ways I’ve found to finish it is to lightly sand / polish, put on some stain in whatever pattern you want, then drop some system 3 self-leveling bar epoxy down. I wouldn’t put anything hot on the epoxy, but it helps to deepen the color. I’ve poured about 6 sq. feet in seperate 12"x12"x2" molds. I used 3/4" melamine sheets and in my test pieces I have about $125 wrapped up. For the entire kitchen, about 26 square feet of counter top, I imagine it would cost me $300 and about 20 hours of my time, depending on how they came out of the mold. This is assuming I get all of the air out of the pour. If I have to level off with portland cement I’ll be fucked.
We purchased unfinished custom cabinets so we might just say fuck it and pick up granite or quartz. I think 1 sq.ft. of concrete at 2" thick is like 18 -20 lbs. It’s very similar to granite in weight.
edit: if I do end up making them I think I’m going to switch to 1.5 or 1.75" thick and I may make the forms out of plexiglass instead of melamine so I can see how it is laying as I am making these “finish side down” in the form.
You can make drop fronts so that you have the look of a thick top w/ less weight. You’re right on your weight estimate.
Keep melamine for your forms. Seal the joints w/ silicone to keep the water in the concrete (stronger cure since it needs it for hydration) and use a sawzall w/ the blade removed to vibrate your forms. Keep your forms in a cool area and keep dampened burlap on your concrete for like a week or so to insure that the concrete doesn’t curl (it WILL curl. I’ve seen slabs curl up on the ends almost 1.5" if they cure too fast. Hydration creates heat and concrete shrinks).
dude! I never thought of the sawsall! I was using a palm sander but my sawsall is much more powerful. Also, I think I’m going to have someone vibrating the form as I pour the concrete in. During my testing I was pouring all 2" and then trying to vibrate it. I was getting some bubbles out, but not everything on the sides especially. I have been using the CounterTop mix from quikrete and it has worked pretty well for me. It has a bunch of latex additives that make it screed and trowel really weird but it lays dead flat at the bottom of the form and pretty much self-levels.
Usually plasticizers and water reducers. Plasticizers usually finish gummy. The best surface is from a self consolidating concrete mix. No vibrating at all.
It is definitely possible to overvibrate and segregate the aggregates…especially when there is plasticizer in the mix.
Following this thread and refreshing like every 30 minutes.
I’ve been brainstorming kitchen design ideas for my remodel, and I can’t get concrete counters out of my head.
Whoever gets them, I’ll bring beer if you’d let me grab a look at them.
If you’re ever in Johnstown during the day (not that you would be) stop by where I work. The bathroom in my office has one, there’s one in the front office, there’s a radiator cover, etc. I’ll take some pics tomorrow.
i dont have one, but feel free to bring me beer anyway
I’m in brentwood. There are a couple different ways of finishing them and as said, I chose an epoxy coating over a soy-based concrete stain. Just LMK and you can take a look at my test pieces. I’m in the garage behind the house finishing the cabinets damn near every day…
chris, if you get some pictures of the finals or even progress, that’d be awesome. We are focusing on our windows right now, but once these are squared away we are going to continue to research… i’m glad you’re trying to pour yourself… then i can gauge the realisticness of me doing it…lol i know we have about 58sq ft after remeasuring… sheesh
fah_quad, if you’re ever in or near the strip district during the week… stop in on the guys over at Outlaw Studios they are pretty friendly and have a showroom, and will usually show-off some of the work in progress.
They are on Penn near 26th
chris, whats the update, did the counters turn out for you?
sorry dude, I’ve been busy.
Here’s one of my first test pieces. I’ll try to snap some of the other couple test pieces. My wife is hounding me to just get this done and feels bad that I haven’t had a chance to enjoy summer, so we may just go granite or quartz and not fuck with concrete. I’m confident you could pour a slab in your garage and finish it about 90-96% of the pro countertop guys. I’m just fucking spent and still have half the cabinets to poly, doors and drawer fronts to do, trim work, etc…