Wednesday, July 29, 2009

We installed our concrete countertop in our kitchen a couple of months ago and I wanted to show everyone what it looks like. I started it in April and finally completed the project in June. Luckily it didn't take any longer because I don't know how much longer the tablecloth-covered plywood countertop would have lasted. Mandy was patching things up with duct tape on a daily basis.

I started by building a temporary table using cheap saw horses and 2x4's. Then I made a water-tight melamine mold on top of the table. Imagine a remesh and rebar grid suspended in the mold (I forgot to take a picture of it).

The next picture shows a couple of smaller molds. One for a small section in the kitchen and the other for the bathroom countertop.


After the mold was complete it was time to pour the cement. We borrowed a cement mixer from a farmer in our branch and got to work mixing about 16 80-lb bags of cement and additives. It took Mandy and I about 9 hours, with no breaks, to get the cement poured, vibrate all the bubbles out and screed the wet cement. I almost wet my underpants.
After about 10 days I took the mold apart, flipped the pieces over and started polishing the top surface using a wet grinder. I put on a few coats of sealant and then had some friends help me carry the three large pieces into the kitchen. The pieces weighed between 200 and 400 lbs so it took three guys to lift them.

I just hope the floor is strong enough to hold everything up.


I still need to finish the backsplash and trim and then we should be done with the kitchen.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Wow! That looks amazing! I am SUPER impressed! Great job, guys!

The Kimber Crew said...

Jake and Mandy, those look awesome!! Which I could've seen the finished product in person, but the pictures look great. That was definitely a butt-load of work. Looks like it paid off.

Brenna said...

Jake you are amazing! Good thing - because if you weren't your wife would outshine ya! I can't believe all of the hard work you guys have put into this house. Way to go! Just think - you might just finish with enough time to live in it before you move! ;)

Molly said...

i wish i could afford to hire you guys to come re-do my kitchen. you saw it...it needs help. I love the countertops. Nice work, not to mention you can deliver babies.