Most of the joints are held together with long trim screws (the same ones we used to attach the cabinets to each other). We cut our pieces and attached them to each other as we went, using clamps to hold the growing frame in place while we measured and cut. You don’t have to add anything for an overhang, because the trim piece will provide the overhang. Why is this important? Because when you’re measuring for your frame, you want to measure the exact outside dimensions of your cabinets. A true 1×2 is only 1.5″ thick, and our whole counter is 1.75″ thick - and it just so happens that half a 1×4 is 1.75″. *Edited : We cut a 1×4 in half, then cut the corner off. I suggest a bevel or chamfer (like we did), a round-over, or simply keeping the edges square. ![]() I suppose you could use any kind of decorative trim that you wanted, but keep it simple because the concrete will obscure any little details. I wanted a beveled edge on the counters, so we used a 1×2* with the corner cut off (a table saw or router will do it). The trim piece will cover the different layers that make up the countertop and give the Ardex a solid surface to stick to. Here’s an important detail to bring up now: you’re going to need a trim piece around the edge of your countertop, like so: Perfect.Īnd that’s the last time you’ll see me do math correctly in this post. Why? We wanted our counters to be one-and-a-half to two inches thick, and we used 1/2-inch thick OSB (to satisfy my need for “cheap”) and 1/2-inch thick cement backerboard (to satisfy Chris’s need for stability and water-resistance), so we had 3/4 inch to spare. There, didn’t that just get a lot easier? Helpful Hint #1: If you do not have pre-existing counters but you are NOT worried about strength and durability, you can simply buy a particleboard countertop - essentially a laminate counter that hasn’t been laminated yet. Oh, and if you haven’t guessed it, I call it Faux-crete because it’s not concrete all the way through. But I also have helpful hints along the way that you can do to make these even easier, if you aren’t encumbered by the same problems that I was. This tutorial is about how I solved those problems. He was also worried about cracking if water somehow got through and made the wood underneath swell. He was overly paranoid concerned that the concrete skim coat would crack if there was any flex in the countertops (especially our breakfast bar, which has a 12″ overhang). Chris was not sold on the durability or strength.These tutorials assume the pre-existence of countertops, albeit ugly ones.Only two little problems stood in my way. And then Jenny from Little Green Notebook used Kara’s skim-coating technique on her laundry room counters, and made it sound even easier. And Kara’s way required no special skills, like knowing anything at all about concrete. And we were over budget, and Kara’s way was cheap. ![]() And our basement was so full of kitchen stuff that I had no room to make concrete forms, and Kara’s way is done in place. And we were somewhere around the 6-month mark on our 3-month remodel, and Kara’s way was fast. And 10 months ago (back when I thought I was going to be totally awesome at DIY and the whole reno would take 3 months), I figured that I could handle making concrete countertops.īut then I found this little tutorial on using Ardex to skim-coat a wood countertop, over on Kara Paslay’s blog. ![]() Ummm, I hate laminate and I can’t afford stone or solid surface. And also why I keep calling them Faux-crete (I’m capitalizing it, it’s a word, patent pending). Wanna know how I made them? Okay!įirst let me tell you a little bit about why I chose Faux-crete counters. ![]() Hey guys! Remember those counters I showed you on Saturday?Īwww yeah. Or read about my attempt to refinish them here. Updates: I wrote a post about the durability of my Ardex counters around the 4-month mark, which you can read here.
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