DIY Concrete Counter Top Part 1 - Pouring the Concrete

Here I show how easy it is to make a concrete Counter Top for your kitchen. We are not professionals just me & my wife trying this for the first time.
My kitchen will have 32 linear feet of counter, and will have a total cost of about $600.
Concrete Counters are probably not for everyone. We really like the look of it. Its is rustic. If you want the high polish of marble you should probably just buy marble.

[@helieasy]

Yep. An outdoor one is a good place to start. You can make the counter look like marble by roughly mixing different color dyed mixes in the form. Though from what i have read it's difficult to get a super high polish on it.

[@helichief]

Hey great video on concrete top. Looking forward to the next segment. Again thanks for making this video. I'm planning on doing an outdoor BBQ island this spring and this will be invaluable.

[@schoolahardknocks52]

This is great I love the method you used. I have done masonry of Some type for approx. 30 years now and you guys... ahem...and gal are a great team. I woulda yelled at her to CUT THAT WATER PRESSURE DOWN! cough cough cough.

[@helieasy]

FYI, in the video we poured the water into the dry mix. Once i found that 2 liters of water is a good amount to make a very dry mix i began with 2 liters in the mix bucket, then added the dry mix into that! Makes mixing a lot easier. Then at the end ad some water at the end to get the consistency you want. Then toss in the fiberglass.

[@fritzloughead3267]

Great looking counter tops! I'm planning on following your recipe for the concrete mix, did you mean 2-3 lbs or 2-3 oz of AR glass? When looking at the Expressions website they say 2 oz per 60 lb bag. Also when you're leveling off with your height stick does that knock off any of the portland cement you sprayed on the side walls? Also i noticed you didn't use any type of steel reinforcement, ill be putting a drop in sink in my kitchen and am concerned at the front and back of the sink the the concrete wont support the weight of handling and moving, would you recommend reinforcement in those areas? Last of all, as i'm sure you can tell this will be my first go at this.... All your comments and help are much welcomed. Thanks for your informative video's!

[@helieasy]

fritz loughead 2-3 lbs of fiberglass. And using fiberglass replaces the steel reinforcement. In fact makes it stronger and lighter. Tho a bit of metal mesh can’t hurt anything either. It will just make it weigh more. On my island overhang i added a fiberglass mesh material to add extra tensile strength. I got it from the same place as the fiber strand. The sprayed on surface is not disturbed as long as you do not swipe anything across it. If your mix is a little wet it should melt into the rest of the concrete. My best advice is to go a little wet. Don’t listen to the sidewalk guys. This needs to be a just a tiny bit more wet than oatmeal to help it fill the mold. Also vibrate the form at the end. I ran a jigsaw with no blade in it on the underside of the table, holding it loosely so it skipped on the surface. Not a best tool but it was what i had and it worked fine.

[@mcdonald2684]

Nice shop!

[@tmarstiller]

how many bags of concrete and Portland cement did you use. also where did you buy the fiberglass and admix and how much total did you use?

[@helieasy]

tina Knight 10 bags of concrete, 10 z-pack countertop admix packs, 20 ish pounds of ¾ chop strand fiberglass. This is the total to do all of them. www.expressions-ltd.com/

[@AndreiZhuravlev96]

Good day, what size fiber do you use

[@blackwagon3]

Thumbs up for the flip flops.

[@tmarstiller]

what was your water to Portland cement ratio for the first spray layer?

[@helieasy]

Not sure. I did not really measure it. Just made a thick soupy mix. Basically as thick as I thought would still come out of the gun. Best comparison is runny peanut butter.

[@contentex1]

Oh no.. TOOOO MUCH WATER!