The neverending story of the kitchen
OK, who out there is sick of hearing about the kitchen? Yeah, me too, but we're really moving now. My brother in law, Dave is here, and we've got the cabinets installed, and he's building the forms for the countertops. We're going concrete counters throughout the kitchen. The really cool part (other than being done very inexpensively), is they the forms are being built in place. We have all of the materials, and we will start pouring concrete tomorrow morning.
At the far end of the "island" - (all 9'2"x36" of it) will be a 14" outcropping that will serve as our breakfast nook. We're going to be able to have it pretty much free standing (no additional legs or supports) - the secret? 1/4" steel plate the will be under the cement, and extending back over the cabinets by 16". Sweet. When this beastie is done, it's not going anywhere. Ever.
For the concrete mix, we're going with a 3-2-1. 3 parts plain yellow sand, 2 parts 1/2" brown pea gravel stone, and 1 part white portland cement. Mix (thick), pour. Based on our measurements, we'll be using 15 50lb bags of sand, 10 50lb bags of stone, and 2-3 100lb bags of cement.
The first step was to cover all of the cabinet tops with 3/8" plywood.
The forms are being made of melamine (like what you would buy for shelves), so that they don't absorb water - this makes the concrete cure better, and be stronger. Once the forms are in place, we'll be using a combination of thin rebar, and 1/4" hardware cloth to give the concrete strenth, and keep everything together - for ever!
Once the concrete has had it's 48 hour initial cure, then the forms come off. Wait 2-3 days, then we'll sand it down. This will bring out more of the stone look. Next, a coat of concrete sealer. Another 2-3 day wait for that to cure. Last will be the water based polyurethane. For that. we're going to need between 5 and 15 coats. It's a matter of how smooth is smooth enough. Once the last coat is in, we still need to wait about a week before we can use the counters - the polyurethane needs time to cure, otherwise it gets milky when water hits it.
Rest assured, pics will soon follow.
At the far end of the "island" - (all 9'2"x36" of it) will be a 14" outcropping that will serve as our breakfast nook. We're going to be able to have it pretty much free standing (no additional legs or supports) - the secret? 1/4" steel plate the will be under the cement, and extending back over the cabinets by 16". Sweet. When this beastie is done, it's not going anywhere. Ever.
For the concrete mix, we're going with a 3-2-1. 3 parts plain yellow sand, 2 parts 1/2" brown pea gravel stone, and 1 part white portland cement. Mix (thick), pour. Based on our measurements, we'll be using 15 50lb bags of sand, 10 50lb bags of stone, and 2-3 100lb bags of cement.
The first step was to cover all of the cabinet tops with 3/8" plywood.
The forms are being made of melamine (like what you would buy for shelves), so that they don't absorb water - this makes the concrete cure better, and be stronger. Once the forms are in place, we'll be using a combination of thin rebar, and 1/4" hardware cloth to give the concrete strenth, and keep everything together - for ever!
Once the concrete has had it's 48 hour initial cure, then the forms come off. Wait 2-3 days, then we'll sand it down. This will bring out more of the stone look. Next, a coat of concrete sealer. Another 2-3 day wait for that to cure. Last will be the water based polyurethane. For that. we're going to need between 5 and 15 coats. It's a matter of how smooth is smooth enough. Once the last coat is in, we still need to wait about a week before we can use the counters - the polyurethane needs time to cure, otherwise it gets milky when water hits it.
Rest assured, pics will soon follow.