Concrete Countertops

After much consideration, I decided to once again, tackle concrete countertops for a project - the basement buildout in our current residence here in East Layton, Utah. The last time I used concrete countertops for a project was 10 years ago at our Summit Park, Utah residence. As in child birth, you forget the pain and only remember the joy and satisfaction - so they say.

It took close to a week to complete the molds for five countertops in the 2000 sq. ft. basement. There is quite a bit of detailed work involved long before concrete comes into play.

The mold consist of; a 3/4 in particle board bottom with 1/8 in plexiglass on top. The concrete takes on the characteristics of what ever type of surface you use in your mold. I used 3/4 in. Melamine for the sides and sealed any exposed raw wood with a sealer. Any where there is a sink or plumbing hardware, a knockout has to be created. Carefully placed black silicon is used to seal all corners.

The round PVC apparatus is for the faucet plumbing penetration.

The day of the pour is kind of frantic when you're by yourself. So for the next pour I called a friend to help out.

Rob helping with the main kitchen countertop. 

And there ya' go! The pre-buffing stage. The next step will be polishing the countertops with a special concrete compound. A penetrating sealer is applied next to protect the concrete. Finally the concrete is buffed out with wax.