Concrete Counter tops

It is harder than you think which is why they end up costing just as much as granite if you have them done.

A good friend, who builds houses and is a true craftsman, did some in his house and they didn't come out perfect. Several gaps and imperfections, not terrible but definitely not perfect. I made the decision that if he couldn't get it right then I had no business even trying.

I did one for an outdoor kitchen. It's not easy and didn't come out like I expected, but still plenty good enough for my use. I just used some quickcrete mix I bought from Home Depot, which probably contributed to some of the issues.

I think it ended up being about 1.75" thick, and it was difficult to get the rebar placed correctly. The counter top I made also had a circle cut out for a BBQ pit and the countertop cracked a bit between the circle and the edge of the table. I'll say this, the countertop is HEAVY and was a pain to move from my garage where I poured it to the back patio. I would probably pour the countertop as close to where it's going to go as possible.

Why reinvent the wheel? Granite is $50 sq ft installed and the most durable.

Built them for my kitchen after Katrina. Came out perfect, was a ton of work. They still look great (IMO).

I did one for where my grill sits.

I really didn't think it was all that bad to do.

use melamine as your bottom and edges of your form. Caulk all the bases and corners of your form.
Put the rebar and wire in the form. Hold the rebar and wire off the bottom with wire that's attached to screws that are on the top of the edge of the form.

I used high pressure quikrete but now have a countertop blend you can use.

the one thing I didn't do well was vibrate the form after it was poured. I didn't have a sawsall at the time. I would definitely use it if I were to do it again.

Hardest part was getting it around to where it was going. Took 4 grown men to get it there.

Trident, did u pour you countertops upside down or right side up, It seems to me that with that ogee edge you would have to make it right side up. Or maybe im just not understanding the way you did it. All the videos I have watched they are poured upside down.

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Pick a cheap 2 cm granite

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Go 3cm....2cm looks kinda 'cheap'

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did u pour you countertops upside down or right side up,

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They were poured exactly where they sit now. When they were poured I was looking at the surface we would be using. Nothing to move or transfer. When it was cured enough the following day I just snapped off the the ogee mould. It is designed to snap off underneath out of sight. Obvious advantage to this method is you can pour in place and not have to turn things over. Did this with just the help of my lab. As I said in another post, used an orbital sander to vibrate. I picked up fiber bag additives for concrete since I was doing a relatively large single pour with the narrow area in front. Didn't want any cracking. Built this in 2012. Base is solid CMU blocks with no gaps on a 6" slab. The very top layer under the concrete countertop was solid concrete blocks around 3 1/2" thick. The corners were cut off to give me the angles I wanted to match our patio. I put the cement board on the concrete blocks and attached/cut to match. Ogee was attached to cement board around the perimeter. The top of the Ogee mould ends up being your float guide. Next day they snap off.

I have 2 side counters that can be removed. I will turn one on its side and you can probably see what I am talking about.

A few photos. The large bottom section that is on left - center in front - and right is one pour. There are no seams at all. It was poured and vibrated in place. The plastic ogee edge was snapped off the following day to reveal it.

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The smaller side counters that up off the base are removable. Here is a shot of one of them upside down. You can see the cement board and the remaining piece of the plastic moulding that stays behind after the snap off. it has a flat inside "wing" that is caulked to the cement board to prevent water from leaking out between mould and cement board.

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Here is a photo of the end of the removable piece. You can see the concrete then a small piece of black plastic that was just an L shape on top of the cement board. Once cured enough to remove, the side part of the L was snapped off leaving a relatively smooth finish. This is in the back so it didn't matter. Everything is brownish/leather colored from the acid stain.
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I did all of these in my house. Bought a DVD by Cheng and followed his instructions. Came out great. You can get almost everything at HD and the diamond pads you can get at your local concrete material supplier. I did my whole house, probably save about $3k over granite.

Cheng Designs