Concrete Counter Tops on a Budget

Excuse the horrible photos taken with a phone.

"This Is How We Made Our Concrete Counter Tops"

First we formed the counter top out of plywood.  The plywood will stay under the concrete forever.  This is a pour in place method.

Tape off all the cupboards underneath with plastic.  This is a very messy job, and since we had the concrete company add black dye to the mix, it may stain the cabinets.

Pour the concrete into the plywood frame.  We had the concrete truck pull up to our front door, and we used a 5 gallon bucket to transport the concrete into the house. (At this point we only had plywood floors and didn't have to worry about the mess.  Just wait for the concrete to dry and sweep it up.)  It took about 30 minutes to have it all in the frame. 

Hubby used his concrete tools to smooth the top of the concrete (who wants a bumpy counter top) and a vibrating tool to get any air bubbles worked out.  Vibrating is a must.  When the forms are removed from the edges you don't want a honeycomb effect, you want a solid edge, and vibrating ensures that.

This is where the waiting game starts.

Everything is smooth and looks great.  Now we are patiently waiting for it to set up enough to pull the forms from the edges so they can be tooled, and made smooth.

Concrete is dry and all the form and plastic are removed.

At this point we wet sanded all the surfaces.

Here the edge of the sink was sanded to expose the stone.

Wait 30 days for the concrete to completely cure.

 Again tape off the cupboards and apply the sealer.

We used a roller to apply it and a heat gun to remove any air bubbles.

Once again we wet sanded the sealer to take away some of the shine.  It was like a looking glass before the sanding.

The look we wanted to achieve was more of a matte finish.

There you have it, how we saved big buck.  This project cost $400.00. (This would have been a $7,000.00 project to have them precast.) Good thing I have a talented, hard working hubby.  

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