I am in the process of building my outdoor bbq island.
Finishing cast in place concrete countertops.
After screeding floating and troweling the countertops i let it sit and harden for about 24 hours.
Finishing concrete countertops if you are pouring a concrete countertop in place then troweling the surface smooth by hand is the easiest way to finish the surface.
Poured in place concrete countertops also called cast in place concrete countertops are built poured and finished right on top of the cabinets at the jobsite or in your kitchen.
Steps to finish my diy concrete countertops.
Tools i used dur.
Casting the countertop in place lets you skip both the heavy lifting and the upside down and backward thinking involved in precasting into a mirror image mold.
Allow the concrete countertop to cure completely before you remove the forms and set the countertop in place.
Normally when casting concrete the cement paste forms a uniform layer on the surfaces of the piece producing a piece that is one solid color with minor variations.
This project features a cast in place countertop with an optional terrazzo finish flecked with bits of white marble mother of pearl and cobalt blue glass.
But you ll find a variety of custom made tools as well.
This update includes great information on concrete counter tops and concrete forming.
Then i snapped off the plastic edge forms.
The concrete pieces in this guide are made from a 5000 psi.
This technique of building concrete countertops has some advantages over a precast concrete countertop that is built in a shop and installed after it is completed.
Snap the edge forms off of the concrete countertops.
Smoothing the concrete mix with a hand trowel is the only technique you will use on the day the countertop is poured.
Tip finishing or polishing concrete countertops using these techniques is done the next day and in some cases 3 7 days after the concrete countertop was poured.
Once the countertop is set on the base cabinets finish it with a hand polisher to give.
Smith has some in stainless and some made of fiberglass.
Tools used for cast in place countertops are pretty much the standard tools for any poured in place concrete work.
Standard mortar mixers wood floats standard trowels etc.
This does require some skill troweling concrete for a flawless finish.