My remodel thread

[Scott Mc]

Badass! thanks man, my kitchen is next.

[8mpg]

Where did you get the molds?

concretecountertopsolutions.com

http://concretecountertopsolutions.com/categories/edge-profiles/

They have great customer service and a good forum. The company doesnt mind recommending using other companies products rather than just sell their own stuff.

[Scott Mc]

Where did you get the molds?

[mustang1200]

I love the counter tops. That's awesome.

[8mpg]

Looking good! Ive done concrete counters in molds, but never pour in place.. always seemed to permanent. Heh.

Not that permanent...the backer board is siliconed down to the cabinets like granite is. If we wanted to take them out, just break it into parts and pull up the backerboard.

[JordonMusser]

Looking good! Ive done concrete counters in molds, but never pour in place.. always seemed to permanent. Heh.

[Cooter]

hell of a project, Tim

[8mpg]

Those molding edges make the concrete look so much better. Do you finish the top with a grout to fill all the pin holes? How are you sealing? I have seen sealed or wax but more maintenance with the wax.

We will be sealing them with a water based sealer (matte finish). The pin holes (some were rather large) were filled with portland cement in a pancake batter type consistency. There are only holes in the edging, none on the top. The company where we bought the forms has a lot of different profiles. We liked the simple ogee edge

This is the first round of filler with a very quick sand with 150 grit

[Gasser64]

Exact same floors I put in lol

[akfodysvn]

Those molding edges make the concrete look so much better. Do you finish the top with a grout to fill all the pin holes? How are you sealing? I have seen sealed or wax but more maintenance with the wax.

[8mpg]

Well...it seems almost everything that could go wrong with the shower has. The drain was too tall (Laticrete admitted it and sent me two new drains). One shower valve is bad (Grohe is sending a new one). The rain shower head pipe was too short (ordered a new one). The flanges around the shower head pipe are too small for my bad tile cutting (ordered new ones)...FML

On a side note though after going back and forth on kitchen counters forever and deciding to save some money...we are doing concrete counters. Pour in place counters...about 1500lbs of concrete. Total cost is roughly $700 for 85sqft of counters. Marble which we wanted was $4500.

Getting the backerboard down and the moulds up:



Poured the island first as a test...it came out well but had more holes than I was expecting to fill



The perimeters are poured on as seen above...here is the shot around the cooktop


Lessons learned:
Ikea cabinets center braces will hold the concrete though they do flex. I will have to move the drawer slides on the center section up about 1/4". This is an easy fix though.
Concrete counters needs time to set up before you float them...screed right away and wait a little while before you float them...
Dont let time get away from you... the perimeter counters dried much faster than the island seemed to...or it felt that way.
Its probably better to spend the extra $300 and buy the "liquicrete" polymer mix to add to a sand topping mix and have a pancake batter mix rather than a peanut butter mix per Quickrete countertop mix suggestions.

[8mpg]

I read about the leveling systems but the initial cost is 100 + spacer clips are 40

Using tavy spacers currently will try the horseshoe ones if I find them at floor and decor.

I ordered those spacers online..never seen them locally. I actually needed spacers for under our windows when we put them in to keep the windows off the framing for drainage.

If you are going to do a shit load of tiling, investing in a quality leveling system would be worth it.

[03mustangdude]

tile spacers... I love these horseshoe ones. Only thing better would be a tile leveling system but they are too expensive. I tried a cheaper one (the tornado system) and didnt like them. That being said, I didnt have enough horseshoe ones and had to use some crappy ones from HD at the same time.

I read about the leveling systems but the initial cost is 100 + spacer clips are 40

Using tavy spacers currently will try the horshoe ones if I find them at floor and decor.

Are you living in it? You never answered in April. lol

[8mpg]

looks good what are the pink things sticking out? Spacers?

tile spacers... I love these horseshoe ones. Only thing better would be a tile leveling system but they are too expensive. I tried a cheaper one (the tornado system) and didnt like them. That being said, I didnt have enough horseshoe ones and had to use some crappy ones from HD at the same time.