CONCRETE COUNTERTOPS
Concrete countertops are quickly becoming popular. Going this route gives you the weight and feel of a quartz or granite without the price tag. There is however, a price to pay. What’s the price you pay you ask? Frustration, sweat and the fear of them not turning out after you have put so much work and time into them. I feel like through our journey of making concrete countertops for our kitchen and guest house, we have learnt a lot and I’m going to do my best to describe what we did and how we did it. We did pour in place and forms. Pour in place is building a form on your cabinetry and forms are when the slab was poured free of cabinetry in its own unit - then moved to its final spot. Let’s start with the forms for slabs…
First things first, you need to have something to pour your 100-300 pounds of concrete into. Do not think for a second that plywood will work. It will NOT. Melamine has a smooth surface, where as plywood is textured and your not going to have a fun time trying to lift or slide the concrete off this mold. When using melamine, your concrete is able to soak up the water needed opposed to plywood which would soak up the water. When pouring into a form, you have the option of using the top or bottom as your counterTOP - Make sense? You can flip it to which ever side you like best. I ended up using all the tops because I had too many “worm holes” on the bottom. (I’m no professional here, let’s remember that). I’ll share below what I’m referring to as worm holes which are the result of air and not enough vibration.
This is the countertop after we flipped it out of the form. Also, don’t flip it. You need a couple of people to move the slab when your using a form and not pour in place. Oh, and notice the pizza box? Yeah, your going to need some snacks.
NOW! Let’s talk concrete. Where I live, I do not have access to the fancy things like special formulated concrete countertop mix (say that 10x). Almost every Pinterest blog you will read about concrete countertops is going to include using a specialized mix. What I used? Well, quickrete ready mix in the yellow bag (good description hey?). They say not to use this and also offer a countertop mix but again, not available to me unless I wanted to pay out my a$$ for shipping. So, grab your cheap mix or order the special stuff, the choice is yours - but keep in mind that this is my experience with using what I have locally. I will say though, by going with a mix formulated for countertops, you will have fewer issues and a better finish.
Now that we have that conversation out of the way, your going to mix however you like. We used a wheel barrel, shovel and a mask because you don’t want to breathe in the dust! Mix to the consistency of peanut butter and until it can hold a shape (for example: use your shovel to make lines and if it doesn’t start running it’s good). Make sure there are no dry particles and your mix is wet enough but not so wet that when you pour in the form there is water running from under it - But not dry enough that it’s crumbly like cookies. That’s the best I can explain it really.
Let’s jump into pouring the concrete in the form: First, caulk all the corners - let dry and then it’s time to pour. The first layer will be half way, press into corners and sides using a rubber float. Our total width was 2 inches. Once you have the first layer, give it some quick vibration. We used a drill, sander, and hammer (whatever you have, use it on the sides and bottom of your form). You need to use enough vibration that you see air bubbles escaping. Next, we added 3/4 inch rebar a poured the final layer. Again, press and work with the concrete but try not to smooth and skip steps yet. Once that’s done you will “screed” the top using a square board with one person on each end working back and forth across the form. Google if you aren’t sure, I have no evidence of doing this step unfortunately.
After you screed, vibrate some more until air bubbles no longer come to the surface. Now is the time we talk about bleed water. There is a fine line between too little and too much. In this photo, I’d like to say that this is fine (my unprofessional opinion of course). Let this sit for 1 hour and leave it alone!! I know when you reach this step, all you will want to do is grab your magnesium float and smooth it, but don’t. I’m a very impatient person and this step was hard for me. Grab a snack and anxiously stare at your slab. If more air bubbles come to the surface, you can give it some more vibration.
After the wait, now you can test your hand at making it smooth. See how the concrete absorbed back the water? The float is also going to bring water back to the surface and if there is any excess, it’s fine to remove it by floating it off your form. Getting this layer smooth is tricky, it requires patience and your probably going to work at this for awhile. It took me quite some time to figure out how to manipulate the float and get a smooth surface. If any large rocks are coming out of the top and disrupting your smooth finish, just remove them or pat them back into the concrete. In between “smoothing”, I vibrated the outside of the form on and off to ensure no air was trapped.
One mistake I did: on my first countertop slab, I didn’t do my best work at vibrating or smoothing the surface because I figured I wouldn’t use this side anyways. I actually ended up using all the tops of my slabs and not the bottoms. I liked the raw texture and colour more.
This is the bottom of a slab, with those pesky worm holes. I mixed a slurry to see if it would cover and sadly, no. A Slurry mix is basically finer particles of the concrete mix with water and you smear it onto the surface to perfect imperfections. You can Google this, but I eventually grew tired of it and made my own out of the concrete mix. What I did was grab a sifter from my kitchen and caught those finer particles in a bucket. I then mixed with water to a paste and used my hands (with gloves) to work it into place. I left my slurry coat to dry for 12 hours. Once your done this step or maybe you don’t need to, it looks like sh*t. You think great, now I’ve done it. It’s wrecked. Well, at-least that’s what I thought because I’m not always a positive person. Anyways, it’s not wrecked, sanding is your new bff. I used an orbital sander and thought, “hey that’s fast and easy.” No. No. No. NO!!! Hand sanding is a must, you have way more control here. By all means, give the orbital a try but it can go wrong so fast. I used 120 grit sand paper and worked up to 400. You also have the option to “wet” sand by spraying the surface with water, I tried this but preferred to dry sand. Once this is done, it still feels rough and again, if your like me, you jump to the conclusion of “it’s totalled, it’s done, the end”. Try and see this through to the finish line…sealant is a beautiful thing and you can always add another slurry coat. Honestly, I’m not even sure what sealant I used because it’s long gone now without a photo for reference, good job Kayla. But basically, just search for a concrete sealant that is food safe. Side note, if you want that matte finish, AINT’ GONNA HAPPEN - I think all sealants leave some sort of shine. You could however lightly sand the sealant once dry with 400 grit to remove some shine, but I didn’t attempt it. I used a roller and did 3-4 coats until smooth to wipe with a cloth. I waited about half an hour in between each coat because again, I’m impatient.
For the fun part, time to lift this slab onto your cabinets or wherever you decide to place it. When you started to slide this off the form and see how the bottom looks, you would of quickly realized how heavy it is. You need a few people to move it and you need to carry it so it’s straight up and down. Carrying it flat puts a lot of pressure in the Middle and it can bust in half, breaking your leg or toe. Story time: we had a slab sitting on saw horses waiting to be sealed and the saw horses gave out. The concrete busted into pieces and I wanted to cry but then put my big girl pants on and started over. Where you decide to place this, needs to support the slab - A LOT. So look into that prior, capiche? We had to use a multi tool to cut some of the wall in order to get the slab to fit nicely. To secure the countertops, you can use concrete screws and go up through the bottom or if that terrifies you like it did me, grab some adhesive glue (I used gorilla glue) and place that on your supports. I didn’t clamp it down or anything because realistically, that counter is not going anywhere.
The finished product and it bothers me how rough it looks in photos. For sure there is some texture, it’s not like butter. I love the raw texture, colour and the earthy element it brings to my kitchen. I like to refer to the “cloth and crumb” test (I made this up). I used a wet cloth and wiped the surface where I placed cracker crumbs, if it’s smooth to wipe and no crumbs are left behind, It’s good enough. Yes, it passed my test.
Onto pour in place…
Same steps as when you pour into a form to make a slab but your form is going to need more work. When you pour in place, you need the edge of the counter to be free of your form showing through. So, your going to make a lip here where the concrete will drop off. Guess what?! I took zero photos of this. So helpful hey? Anyways, give it a google. You can also order forms for this step and I’m sure it’s much easier.
We added a box around the sink as well so the sink would sit under the countertop, this is a great look to make it flow but…BUT you are never, ever, going to get that sink out again so that’s a call you will have to make OR maybe you have a good idea a way you can support the concrete while having your sink under mounted that’s movable. I know there’s a way to do this but my brain didn’t think this one through- oh well! If you do choose to under mount your sink enough so that the tap will sit on the counter, don’t forget to add a form there. Drilling through concrete is no joke, you can use pvc pipe or any item that resembles the width of your faucet hole. That sounds wrong. You get the point, right?
That is as much as I have to say about the pour in place, personally I prefer the slab. Why? Well the mess, dust and no control if it doesn’t work is frustrating to say the least.
MY HONEST REVIEW:
Would I do it again? Absofreakinlutely. The raw texture, the feel, the weight, the COST. As much as it was intimidating to try something new, it was a great learning experience and if you choose to try this, just remember that! Everyone’s experience is going to be different and this is by no means easy. As for the maintenance, I had butcher block counters before and it is basically the same routine. I will have to re seal a few times a year or when needed, it will stain, and it could dent or crack. Right now, I’m just happy to see that my kitchen hasn’t fallen through the floor everyday I wake up because that’s a lot of weight for this old home!
What will YOU need?
Melamine board
Screws/Drill
Concrete mix
Wheel barrow/Shovel
Rubber Float
Magnesium Float
150-400 Grit Sandpaper
Food Safe Concrete Sealant
Rubber Gloves/Mask
Patience
DISCLAIMER
This post is not sponsored or endorsed. All information is my own experience and opinion.