Quote:
Originally Posted by roastbeef
interesting. i saw a neat vid the other day (i'm looking at remodeling a small condo, but i'm shying away from doing it myself) about DIY concrete counters where you pour them already in place.
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i am not a fan of the poured in place counter tops, i have never seen one that looks that good in person, they are always in soft focus on tv
they usually use, what i would consider, a substandard mix, and since it is inside you can’t polish it properly. They offer wax it and buff it, if you look around the edges there are voids etc. I like some little marks/voids that let you know that it’s concrete, but some of that stuff looks bad to me.
The other thing i don’t like about pouring in place, of ‘face up’ is that your final finish is only going to be as good as the guy who put the finish on it, it can be bumpy etc, and that will carry through even if it is polished.
as you can see in previous pictures, i make the forms out of melamine (the white coated particle board that cheap shelves are made out of), and pour the pieces face down, when they come out of the form they are very flat and very smooth and even, it makes polishing them consistently much easier.
i like to polish with water running, on these i’ll start with #200 pads and go on up to #3000 (the same pads and equipment you would use to polish granite)
my brother and i have done counter tops for his outdoor kitchen, his bathroom, my office and a tattoo parlor that a friend has (friend of a friend really)