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Swore I'd never pour a concrete countertop until my neighbor's $80 form changed my mind
I always figured poured concrete counters were a disaster waiting to happen. Cracks, stains, ugly gray slabs, no thanks. Then my neighbor Dave built one for his outdoor kitchen here in Boise last spring and I watched the whole thing happen over a weekend. What sold me was how he built the form upside down with melamine board and ran a $12 orbital sander over the edges after it cured. He used a mix with plastic fibers in it instead of the old rebar and wire mesh approach, and a year later his still looks clean with zero hairline cracks. I helped him do a second one for his bar area about 6 weeks ago and we spent maybe $80 on materials for a 6 foot top. The part that got me was how easy the finish sanding was, I figured you needed a pro polisher but he just worked up through grits with a wet sponge. Now I'm planning one for my own grill station and wondering if I should seal it or leave it bare like he did. Anyone here run into issues with the sealer yellowing after a couple summers?
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dakotal1615d ago
The part about working up through grits with a wet sponge is the real trick nobody talks about. My buddy Tom did a bar top in his garage and skipped the wet sanding, just dry sanded it, and the dust clogged the paper so fast he went through like 20 sheets and still had scratches. He redid it wet and said it took half the time and came out way smoother. On the sealer thing, Tom used a solvent based one the first time and it went amber after two summers out there in the sun. His second top he left bare and just rubs it with a food safe wax every few months, says it looks better now than the sealed one did. For a grill station I'd probably go bare or use a clear water based one made for outdoors, the sun is what kills most of them.
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