I hope to soon try my hand at making a concrete counter. have been making a boat load of cool looking stepstones in my quest to find a color/stuff (??) combo i really like. I will be pouring the coutertop in a form and then flipping it and then grinding.
I read Chengs book, but it seems kind of sparse about some of the finer details. But it was very helpful on some things.
I want to try subsituting a pretty finely ground glass, 1/4″ minus plus lots fine grit in it, for some of the gravel and sand in my mix. Not sure how to properly describe the stuff, but that is pretty close.
so, can ground glass supplant regular aggerate and sand? Anybody ever try it? My coutertop will have a 12 – 14″ cantilever that I am not overly worried about using a more standard mix, but this is kinda out there in left field , so should I be worried about a weak mix.
BT
P.S. Brownbag get serious and advise me
Replies
Why not simply make some samples and test them? You should be able to devise a simple load test stand that attempts to break a "beam" of the material, using a lever and bags of sand for weights, eg.
In the event you missed this thread I'll post a link as it may assist you... 89563.2
cheers
-Thoreau's Walden
I have only done 1 concrete counter, but the glass in the mix is just what I did.
This client had a green and beige limestone floor, so for a sample , I got some green dye and broke a Heiniken bottle & mixed it up.
I showed the sample to the lady on a Friday and she liked it.
This was done during a large whole house renovation, normally on the weekends the owners would come around inspecting the work leaving notes for requests,complaints,etc, that I would find on Monday. The Monday after I showed her the counter top sample,the only note I found was ontop of 5 cases of Heiniken, (yes full) saying we thought we would get some material for you counter top.
I don't normally drink that much, but sometimes you gotta do what the job requires!
That's sweet! Very nice.
So do you live near me or what?
I could get you some work doing that I think...............[email protected]
Well I am gonna take the plunge tomarrow. Not sure how they will look after grinding, but what the heck. Still haven't figured out the strength bit, but I suspect the strenght requirements aren't that difficult unless you are doing some big big overhangs. I will try to break one or 2 for chuckels & grins.
Hey Brownbag, I already thought of marbles. Might be real neat or real dumb looking. The marbles when they were ground would leave perfect round dots.
Somebody gave me a fiber optic Christmas tree the other day (what the he!! did I ever do to him). I think I will try to put some of the fiber opic fibers into a pour.
The neat thing ( or worst thing) is I am approaching this in a 3rd world sort of way. In rural Alaska where I live you can't get anything except the most basic of building materials. If you want special stuff ya got to pay mega- bucks for shipping. Don't even talk about haz-mat shipping. So I get to figure out ways to work with easily aquired stuff, got pleanty of bottles. I will try some diffrent types of grout sealers and can only get red and black dyes. I would kill for some white cement dust, but $50 a bag ain't in the cards.
Soon I will have enough 12 X 12 stepping stones to do all of my driveway.
Thanks to all for posting
So you gonna leave the fiber "wired" so you can light it up?
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin
Yep
I was thinking of doing a bath vanity top with lit up fiber someday if the Christmas tree experiment works.
Actually the idea sounds not too bright (pun intended). Who needs or wants a lit-up countertop? Maybe in a Disco, but not in a house.
Will be cool none the less
Be a pretty slick low wattage nightlite tho'.tagline- The secretary of the Province of New Netherland, writing in Dutch, in 1650, for the information of those who wished to take up land there, states more particularly that "those in New Netherland, and especially in New England, who have no means to build farmhouses at first according to their wishes, dig a square pit in the ground, cellar fashion, six or seven feet deep, as long and as broad as they think proper, case the earth inside with wood all round the wall, and line the wood with the bark of trees or something else to prevent the caving in of the earth; floor this cellar with plank, and wainscot it overhead for a ceiling, raise a roof of spars clear up, and cover the spars with bark or green sods, so that they can live dry and warm in these houses with their entire families for two, three, and four years -Thoreau's Walden
Be a pretty slick low wattage nightlite tho'.wonder if you could outline the toilet seat
I once thought of routing a channel deep in the bottom of a curved stair rail for subdued chaintube lighting but seemed too much like work.
be getting older and wiser? tagline- The secretary of the Province of New Netherland, writing in Dutch, in 1650, for the information of those who wished to take up land there, states more particularly that "those in New Netherland, and especially in New England, who have no means to build farmhouses at first according to their wishes, dig a square pit in the ground, cellar fashion, six or seven feet deep, as long and as broad as they think proper, case the earth inside with wood all round the wall, and line the wood with the bark of trees or something else to prevent the caving in of the earth; floor this cellar with plank, and wainscot it overhead for a ceiling, raise a roof of spars clear up, and cover the spars with bark or green sods, so that they can live dry and warm in these houses with their entire families for two, three, and four years -Thoreau's Walden
Would be interesting if you could work out a pattern. I can think of all sorts of opportunities for batchelor pads -- so long as mom doesn't flip the switch it looks normal.
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin
I did a coffee table with exposed fiber optics in it. Called it a "Borg" table since it reminded me of the Star Trek movie villains somehow. Looked cool. I bent the fibers so they were mainly along the exposed surfaces, but dipped in and out some. Results were pretty cool, when I have time I'd like to try it again and refine the technique.PaulB
Thing to do is to line the form with a sheet of something like Masonite with holes drilled in the pattern you want. Work the individual fibers into the holes and then fill in around.
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin
If you're pouring upside down (which is what I did) how would you do that? I was thinking next time of using styrofoam to hold it in places and then dissolving that with acetone. Was a fun experiment...PaulB
That's what I was thinking -- pouring upside down. You position the fiber first (sticking the fibers in a sheet of styrofoam would also work, but wouldn't give as smooth a surface) and then work around it. Tricky to fill the form with the fiber in place, I'm sure, but there's probably a technique to do it.
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin
Nice lookin'
Is the sink in one piece of counter? I see no seams around it. If so how did you move the counter without breaking it?
And how much help did you need with 5 cases of Heine?!
thx,
Pat
It is 1 piece, there is #3 rebar running the length of the counter. Also I left it in the forms for a good 14-20 days before moving it, so it was prety sturdy.
And how much help did you need with 5 cases of Heine?!
Help was offered, but sometimes to do the job right you need to do it yourself. ;)
Wow,
Risky, You must have a few sets of hands to help you move topsif not to drink heineken.
I'm looking at another counter job right now that would be 5 or 6 molds: sink ctr, stove ctr, island with Bblock cutting board integrated, and matching fireplace surround.
HO has a small steep driveway going DOWN from the street @ about 15% I can just picture the tops one at a time in the back of the truck sliding all over...
I don't know if I want to do the job!
Pat
The one I did I formed and poured in the clients garage and only had to move it about 20'.
Nice. I formed 5 counters in a client's garage last year but it still took 4 large dudes all they had to move the 'island' top in.
It cracked...
But then, it's concrete.
TOH did a project with concrete/glass counter tops.
Factory made, huge hoppers of colored broken glass mixed to whatever color they wanted. Just broken glass, nothing trickey.
They mixed it & poured it onto big flat sheet. I think they then treated it like any other material, cut to size and finished it.
Joe H
I want to do one with marbles
At least then no one could accuse you of having lost them..
Parolee # 40835
Edited 5/12/2007 6:28 pm ET by Sphere
I keep them in my crown royal bag. nice velevtly blue with intinals on the side.
Now that is just spooky man, I do too. No kidding.Parolee # 40835
Now that is just spooky man, I do too. No kidding
Used to, but my cronies all thought those bags were dominoes, and they'd walk away on me.
Now, I just put them in carnival glass to support silk flowers.Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
I want to do one with marbles
Ooh, cool idea. Nice mix of aggies, glass, and the like. Only problem is that the fool things tend to be well graded, and to a pretty large "aggregate' diameter.
Hmm, wonder if there are any marbles factories near to hand--be interesting to find out what they do withe "seconds" and or rejects.
That, and it'd be cool card to whip out when the next person asks if I've lost my marbles <g> . . . Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
i think they typically remelt the "rejects" into those flat lozenge things that are sold for use in plant containers etc.
I had a source bookmarked that sold marble and the flat things, in big drums like old nail kegs, that held fifty pounds.
You could have the colors mixed in what ever ratio you wanted.
Lost the book mark last year when the computer crashed.
Lost the book mark last year when the computer crashed.
Ugh, hate that when it happens. Which is why I try to regularly make a zip file of the Favorites folder for IE. Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
I've been doing a lot of sample pours myself with tints and glass. I've found the most economical way is to sprinkle glass on the bottom of the form and gently pour the crete being careful not to displace the glass as the concrete is placed on top of it. To get uniformity along the edges I mix some glass with some reserved crete and place this mix around the perimeter before I pour the rest of the form.
I've been getting my crushed glass from American Glass Specialties in Utah.
B4 U do it, get the book by Buddy Rhodes. I've got the Cheng, and Buddy's is better.
The glass you'll want is large chunks, like ice cubes. I've seen counters done with glass, and they can be knockouts.
You'll be doing some serious grinding. Think terrazzo floors.
good luck with your counter top... we've been pouring/casting 1 bar top a day (16" x 105") which is really too fast to remove em from the mold... but so far only one failure (crack)
someone here said... roto hammer/hammer drill to vibrate... I took that advice and it's the best so far... wish i knew who to thank for that info... but much better than the recip saw and jig saw and vibrator out of an old easy chair... that we had been using...
i have yet to grind or polish any counters or castings that we've done.... they have come out looking like we wanted...
but for glass... i've seen at the "everything is $1 store" bags of green glass pebbles... that i think they use in crafts and in the bottom of bowls for flowers ect... I've also looked at the rocks they sell for fish tanks... lots of colors... and the colored sands at the craft stores... would like some ideas on black rocks... would like to cast some white portland tops with black rock....
keep us posted....
p
Hey, thanks for the roto-hammer tip. not sure who to thank,but it works a lot better than a sawzall, which works a lot better than a palm sander.
So how thick are you pouring your tops? My counter is gonna be roughly 9' X 2' (really a half elippse, 1' wide at the ends and 2' at the center. I think I will go 2'', but that is going to be one heavy top to move around. 1 1/2" scares me because of possible ghosting and strength for a cantilever, but sure would be easier to move.
Poured with the glass aggrette mixed into the mud today, we'll see how it turns out in a week. I have done some samples with shards of glass glued to bottom (future top) of the form. Kind of a real pretty effect when ground. sure wish I could find some yellow bottles. I broke down and bought some red glass thingees at a craft store. are you putting your glass into your mixer or in your frame?
if it's a small vanity top i'm doing up to 3" just for effect.... the bar tops i'm doing now are 1.75" thick and i'm using 5/8 rebar ...because i had it... which doesn't leave alot above & below... but so far it has worked... plus these will sit on a pony wall 1.5" overhang one side and about 8-9" other way... and only about 2" on the long end...
the only thing i've ever preplaced in the mold just play'n was... some powered concrete color, some white portland mix in kinda a stripe..... some different colored rocks...ect.... usually everything i use goes in the mixer....
if you really wanted to use white portland and the cost was too high you can still use it in the mold first... as a base kinda... then pour/place your grey over it... could save you 3/4 of the white...
p
That's me.
I've tried everything for vibrating and nothing worked til the roto hammer. I even made cribbing to hold the forms, with holes in the sides for a round whip stinger...
Rotary hammer blows all that away.
Would like to see photos of your work,
Cheers,
pat