Ok so follow me down my habit hole! lol. I'm not going to lie even with this awesome system by concretecountertopsolutions (makes it WAY easier!) this still involves a lot of work. If your willing to role up your sleeves its totally worth it though. When we were doing our Kitchen Reno I fell IN LOVE with a slab of Quartzite and HAD to have it for our island bar. Did I mention that our island is rather large? Well it did NOT fit in my budget I had set for the Reno so I had to get creative! I figured out that if I did the surrounding countertops in something budget friendly I could splurge on my beautiful stone for the island. I have done concrete countertops for several projects in our resale homes and other projects around our own home and thought that could be the solution. I love the look and the options but did not look forward to how labor intensive they are. ugh. Then I found the Z-Crete system! Come on I'll show you how easy they have made it.....
So here you can see I've installed plywood top to add a strong base as the part on the left is going to have an over hang. (Normal wall Cabinets with no over hang you would normally skip this step and just go straight to the Cement board. In this case I was just worried about the extra strain added by the overhang.) I then added cement board. I believe this is Hardie Board brand but any kind you like will do. Then we measure and cut the forms for the edge. These are the standard depth square edge frames. Here I have cut and laid out the mesh and am getting ready to install the z clips to hold in place. Then we are ready to pour the concrete! Here is a Quick Video of tips and tricks to get the forms in place!
Tools to get you started with your pour
A lot of you DIY'ers will have many of these things already. If not you can follow these helpful affiliate links. I've done my research and found the best price on these things with the best reviews 🙂 so I will make a small commission with the use of these links at NO extra cost to you. So I thank those of you that use my links. That being said you can find many of these things at your local hardware store as well. Hope this helps!
Ok Now lets talk about the Finish on your countertop!
So once you get your countertops successfully poured you will want to get the finish just right! I suggest grabbing a few tools off Amazon... Some diamond Polishing Pads for your sander. Here you get all the different grits that you will want to work your way up through to get that total "polished" look. Also a Diamond Hand Polishing Pad Coarse Grit for when you go to get the forms off. Now lets get down to how...
Ok so you'll want to take your coarse hand pad and go over the very top edge of the form to make sure there is nothing "connecting" it to your finished countertop concrete. Then you'll VERY carefully take a putty knife and run along the seam of the plastic form and the edge of your countertop. This is to separate the form from the countertop. Think about how you would run a knife around the edge of a muffin before flipping the muffin pan. This ensures that the muffin comes out whole and doesn't stick to the pan. Same reasons here :). Now you simply Snap the form off! It will take a little force but this is the beauty of this system! You should have a beautiful polished looking edge. If you don't and there are little "Pockets mark holes" don't panic. This is common and fixable! If you don't get ALL of the little air bubbles vibrated out this is what happens. Sometimes there are many things that contribute to this happening like the concrete setting up to fast due to not mixing it wet enough or even the weather can be a contributing factor. No worries you just need some patch concrete. You can buy this from concretecountertopsolustions.com or from your nearest hardware store. If you go to Lowes or HomeDepot look for a "Skim Coat." You'll mix this up and do a thin coat where there are holes. Now remember if you go to putting a thick layer you will have more sanding to do. I generally "Smear" it in the holes and try not to make too much more work for myself lol. This can then be polished along with the top after it sets and voila no more air bubble holes! See I told you not to panic.
Make sure to protect cabinets and anything else around before pouring and sanding! No matter how careful you are IT GETS MESSY! I promise
Once you have poured, cured, and sanded your countertop to a polish its time to seal it up to protect it! You can use a penetrating sealer like TUFF DUCK CONCRETE COUNTERTOP SEALER or they have a great one at Concretecountertopsolutions.com. Or you can do a wax sealer like SEAL DOC CONCRETE COUNTERTOP WAX SEALER. I have been known to be extra and do both lol. Its pretty easy and you can pick your sheen with a lot of the penetrating sealers. If you want it to be more matte or more polished shiny look. There is no wrong choice and it all protects its just a preference as to what you want the finish to look like. Just make sure you do some kind of sealer as concrete is naturally very porous and will stain if not sealed.
All this being said I have personally had some kind of concrete countertop in my home for over 5 yrs and we have loved it. Its been used and abused by my chaotic family and its held up great! It's a really economical choice that I think has a really cool look and style to it. SO HAVE FUN WITH IT AND ENJOY!
