Concrete Countertops

How has Margie not comented yet?

I will definitely post up some pics in this thread after I do mine. Probably not for a month or two, but I'll share when its done.

We always wanted to cover our bar with beer bottle caps and then epoxy them over back in college, but the epoxy was way too expensive. I think this Envirotex stuff is perfect for that kind of stuff, and its WAY cheaper than what we were looking at.

alex wrote: EDIT: I read through that link. Dan, you can basically replace Step 3 with 'paint however you damn well please,' then proceed to step 4, 'seal the crap out of it.'

That should work. When i was a kid my dad made my brother and I a box to take our slotcars to the track. It was like a wooden briefcase and he glued a Richard Petty poster to the side of and polyurethaned. It got wet many times with no problems.

SVreX wrote:

Rusnak_322 wrote: we had pink counters with a brown sink in our old house. My wife painted the counter a eggshell color with latex wall paint and then sealed it with several layers of polyurethane. We lived there for two more years, rented the house for a year and sold it to my brother a year ago. They look like eggshell Formica and have held up perfect except for one small spot the size of a dime that the renter messed up by putting a hot pan on the bare counter. No one is going to confuse them for high end counters, but no one has guessed that they were painted for $30 either.

Wow, that's a surprise. Did she sand the sheen of the laminate first? No peeling? Latex polyurethane? Polyurethane is not FDA approved, however it has not been proven problematic either. The manufacturers simply don't submit it for testing.

yeah, she sanded them down. before that, she used some auto paint pre-cleaner to make sure that it was very clean. I saw the counters over the 4th and they are holding up perfect. These counters have a built in backslash and a curved finish on the ends. I can't remember what we used to top the paint, but it was most likely just some poly from Home Depot. Possibly some of the stuff we used when we refinished the wood floors.

I paint motorcycles as a hobby and thought that it would not stick. I gave her the idea when I said that I should paint them with auto paint.

I was secretly hoping that it would fail so we could just buy something nice.

I am building a bar this winter when I set to finishing my basement. I think strategically "distressed" dyed concrete and embedded brass rail to give it a sort of old cantina look is what I'm shooting for. I think I have the top all figured out - its what to do with the support structure to make it look good that has me worried.

I will likely build it out of concrete block and set the top with a wooden form loaded with rebar. What does one skirt a concrete block support in to look like it belongs under a concrete slab? Round river rock? Stucco? Wainscot?

Hee hee I bought pre made laminate countertops, but it is for a trailer and they were cheaper by 10x

My aunt has polished cement tops and they are awesome. Sturdy indestructible, minimal maintenance.

GPS...from what I've found is you make a mold. No skirting needed

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: I am building a bar this winter when I set to finishing my basement. I think strategically "distressed" dyed concrete and embedded brass rail to give it a sort of old cantina look is what I'm shooting for. I think I have the top all figured out - its what to do with the support structure to make it look good that has me worried. I will likely build it out of concrete block and set the top with a wooden form loaded with rebar. What does one skirt a concrete block support in to look like it belongs under a concrete slab? Round river rock? Stucco? Wainscot?

Varmint heads ;)

John Brown wrote:

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: What does one skirt a concrete block support in to look like it belongs under a concrete slab? Round river rock? Stucco? Wainscot?

Varmint heads ;)

I was using those for the tap handles and hanging lights. Don't you think it would be gaudy to over use them?

Grtechguy wrote: Besides, no-one buys premade laminate countertops

Don't think I understand- I've used them, and know a lot of people how buy premade laminate countertops.

My dad built some for a customer that were green with bits of crushed glass embedded in it polished to a high gloss shine. He also formed in some drainage channels near the sink to funnel water back to the sink. Absolutely beautiful. Don't know how they held up over time as the last time I saw them was when I installed the finish plumbing, but they were gorgeous.

Grtechguy wrote: Canoe gun please? Besides, no-one buys premade laminate countertops

Its not only for canoes but I don't see any reason it wouldn't work on one.

neon4891 wrote: How has Margie not comented yet?

'Cause I was on vacation! Plus, I don't have any recommendations for concrete (really!).

I did paint the absotively horrible "woodgrained" laminate cabinets in my parents' condo kitchen using the sand+killz+latex method, and even without the top sealer they held up just fine. I would expect following the paint with a good poly-ish sealer on a countertop would get you something cheap, durable, and way easier to rip out come remodeling time than any stone/concrete/whatever surface.

I have premade laminate countertops in my house, by the way, because after ripping out a construction dumpster full of unblemished but outdated tile from my super-Seventies ranch's kitchen and baths, I realized you don't WANT the crap to last forever. 10 years and it's gotta go, I don't care what the material is. So why waste all that granite's time?

Margie

I like the concrete, but like Margie, I worry about what happens to it in 10 years when it's inevitably outdated, but still a massive hunk of thing that needs to get out of your kitchen.

I'm actually going to do Marmoleum (natural linoleum) using Schluter stainless steel edging made for tile installations. Don't even bother trying to talk me out of it, I love the material, the looks, and I know it might not last 100 years. But it will be insanely cheap compared to granite, solid surface, or concrete, and in ten years when I want the marmoleum gone, the edging will still be there ready to receive whatever surface is the new hot thing.

Imagine these with a seamless sheet of marmoleum where the tile is:

Probably in a color something like this:

I saw this the other day while look at the nearby wood stains. comes in 5 colors, $250 for 50 sf or 20 lf.

http://www.lowes.com/pd_68904-90-253202_0_?productId=3115485&Ntt=modern+masters&Ntk=i_products&pl=1&currentURL=/pl__0__s?newSearch=true$Ntt=modern%20masters$y=0$x=0

http://modernmasterstransformations.com/

HL

Zombie thread revival!

So, in the past 5 1/2 years what do we think of concrete counter tops?

I am remodeling my home office and installing cabinets. I was thinking of using Ikea butcher block countertops, but am now thinking of other options. Granite, quartz, and other solid surfaces are out due to cost. I looked at laminate, but am thinking about making my own pre-cast concrete counters. Since this is an office, there is no sink coutout. The tricky part is that I am going to have a portion of the counter top be an adjustable height desk. That part will be ~25" deep and 7' long. The desk legs I bought are rated to lift 710#, and am wondering if I can make a concrete countertop that is strong enough to essentially be supported by four legs and still make it light enough that I can move it and install it.

The other parts of the counter that won't move don't seem to be an issue.

I am thinking of building the counter tops similar to this: https://youtu.be/TG0F7Qe4MzM

I need about 35 sq ft of counter top.

I have doe a few table tops, 7' is gonna get heavy no matter what, but i think you can do it strong enough.

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/concrete-coffee-table/99191/page1/

lime/lemon juice will leave marks, but its been pretty bulletproof otherwise. Kids/wives/dogs and its held up.

In reply to java230:

I remember that thread about your table, but forgot it turned into countertops. Did you master the lip eventually?

In reply to T.J.:

Havent tried another since the last one. But it worked reasonably well. Still havent done any counters. I will likely do my island this summer.

7' of concrete countertop is not going to be mobile without the assistance of hydraulics.

In the time span of this thread, I have painted over my icky laminate countertops with a slick granite-like product which looked great, and then had that paint wear away until it looked far worse than the laminate did originally.

Concrete continues to gain in popularity, and is still a great choice of materials.

I'll be pouring concrete counter tops for my kitchen remodel - I'm probably two months away at this point.

The video posted by T.J. looks to be a pretty standard method of pre-casting. I will not likely be spraying material in, and I'm reluctant to use glass fibers as I don't want them showing through in the top. Probably use remesh or the flexible Geogrid material. This likely means that I'll be stuck with thicker slabs, but there's always a trade-off.

Concrete is certainly more labor intensive than picking up the phone and ordering stone or something else, but it isn't hard work. Hashtag builtnotbought versus hashtag cubicdollars.

In reply to SVreX:

Assuming 1.5" thick slab weighs 18 lb/ft2, then a 7' by 25" piece is under 300 lb. My motoried desk legs are rated to lift 710 lb. I won't be putting a lot of weight on the surface. Couple monitors, a keyboard, a mouse, a laptop and docking station.

I need to do some studying to figure out if I can support a slab from four legs without any other frame or supports. I expect I will either add glass fibers and/or rebar in side the slab to add strength.

The ikea butcherblock has been my plan, but closest ikea is a 6-7 hr roundtrip and they charge almost as much to ship it as it costs to buy it.

I did the top with a lip 1" thick, 30x42 IIRC, I could lift it no problem, was probably ~60lbs. Fibermesh only, and supported my weight. At 7' I would want some bar/mesh though I think. My 2" thick table, is a 2 person thing.

The table is supported by 4 legs, I can stand on it, its almost 4' long.

As to the fibers showing, they really dont, a torch makes any exposed disappear.