Concrete Countertops

Concrete Countertops provide the owner with the ability to express themselves through designs, colors and textures. Doing so ensures that they own a one of a kind countertop surface for their home, office or outdoor kitchen.

For many contractors and Do-It-Yourselfer’s (DIY), Concrete has been considered a difficult choice for use in countertops. The reason has to do with the time it takes to create the piece, knowledge needed to properly form, pour and reinforce the concrete mix and how to seal and protect their creation.

SureCrete, a leader in Decorative and Specialty concrete products, has made a breakthrough once again, with the Xtreme Series Pre-Casting Bag Mix for the Concrete Countertop industry. What is this technology? The Xtreme Series technology is a hybrid fiber reinforced concrete mix. This means that the skill set of the person looking to fabricate their own concrete countertop, shower panel, vessel sink or fireplace is not required to have years of experience. Knowledge of how to mix the concrete countertop material is ZERO, the key ingredients are pre blended in a 50 lb bag for you to use immediately. The time, money and expertise in properly reinforcing your concrete countertop with steel, wire mesh or rebar is ZERO. The Xtreme Series bag mix design incorporates PVA, Glass AR and Nano fibers that give the fabricator all the reinforcement they need without ever thinking about it. Another feature of the Xtreme Series Pre-Casting mix is that it has NO polymers and NO acrylics in its formula. Why is this important? For most of the country, they deal with temperature swings, humidity and freezing during delivery of the material. All of these factors affect how a typical concrete countertop mix performs. If your shop is 50 degrees or 85 degrees, this can cause the polymers and acrylics to act differently which can cause inconsistencies in color, workability and pinholes for most concrete countertop mixes. The Xtreme Series technology has simplified and provided solutions to these very obstacles that contractors have experienced with their current concrete countertop mix.

What are the steps for making a quality precast Concrete Countertop?

• Choose your Concrete Countertop Mix
• Select your casting surface
• Choosing an edge profile system for your concrete countertop
• Choose your color, texture and edge profile
• Proper demold and storage of a concrete countertop
• Preparing and choosing a sealer for a concrete countertop

Stage 1 – Choosing a concrete countertop mix design

Whether you are a seasoned contractor or a Do-It-Yourselfer (DIY) there is no smarter or easier concrete countertop mix on the market than SureCrete’s Xtreme Series Pre-Casting concrete countertop bag mix. The small aggregate allows for the user to easily create any texture or look without worrying about exposing unwanted large aggregates. The pre-blended fiber put in the 50 lb concrete countertop mix delivers all the reinforcement you will need. That means NO rebar, NO steal, and NO wire mesh. This allows the applicator to pour his concrete countertop as thin as 0.75 inch’s making the typical 1.5” concrete countertop weight in half!

Stage 2 – Selecting your casting surface for your concrete countertop

Since concrete can read the surface of what it is casted on, and the small aggregate in the Xtreme Series mix reads 5 times better, choosing the right casting surface is essential. For most areas, products such as: Melamine, Formica, and expanded PVC and other ultra smooth surfaces are available at home improvement stores like Home Depot or Lowes. If you are casting multiple pieces and you want to have a surface that is reusable, sheets of acrylic are a popular choice. The proper thickness for the casting surface is generally 0.50” - 0.75”. Thinner casting decks can bow and create unneeded imperfections in your casting surface.

Stage 3 – Choosing your forming system for your concrete countertop

Once you have selected your casting surface it is time to form up your edge profiles. The use of melamine and wood are commonly used. Attention to detail is essential to keep a uniform edge. Once edge rails are cut and affixed to the casting surface you will need to use a acrylic or silicone caulk to smooth out the seam from the edge to the casting surface. We suggest using a colored caulk so that you can easily see any unwanted residue on your casting surface, therefore ensuring it stays clean. Depending on the caulk you will need to wait 1hr-12hr’s for it to cure before you can pour your concrete countertop.

SureCrete offers the fastest and easiest forming system on the market. This system is a bendable foam forming edge that comes in 4' lengths and is applied to the casting surface with a PSA tape. Each rail is cut to the exact profile edge saving you time and ensuring consistency of look. The PSA Tape is special due to its double sided stickiness bonding the foam firmly to the casting surface and not allowing a blowout to occur. It also does not wick moisture, therefore allowing the applicator to remove the need for caulking and the dry time needed for that technique.

Stage 4 – Choosing your color, texture and design

Since concrete is a blank canvas waiting for you to bring it to life, your design ability is limitless. Here are some questions to ask yourself to help guide you in your decision. What color do I want for the base of my design? Do you want a secondary color such as concrete stain? Do you want a smooth surface or a textured surface for your concrete countertop? Do you want to have a “GREEN” concrete countertop and go terrazzo? Would you like the colors to be marbled? Do you want natural veins accenting your countertop helping it look like you cut it out of Mother Nature? The answer to these questions will allow you to create your one of a kind concrete countertop masterpiece! If you are curious how to create a travertine or vein in concrete take a look at this short video.

Stage 5 – Proper demold time and storage of your concrete countertop

Here are some principles to consider on when to demold your precast concrete countertop. The Xtreme Series technology is a chemical cure rather than a typical hydration cure of concrete. This means 6-8 hours after you pour your concrete countertop, you can technically demold the piece. Xtreme Series PreCasting bag mix is a high early strength pourable concrete mix that at 24 hours hits over 7,000 PSI.

When thinking about your design, consider if you have high detail such as a texture, edge detail profile or a veining technique. The detail may need longer to cure if it is intricate in nature or if you choose veining, the veining material has a totally different cure rate. In that case, SureCrete suggests 12-16 hours before demold.

Xtreme Series Pre-Casting bag mix is a controlled fast cure, if left in the mold for longer than 16 hours it may be wise to cover it with plastic as to control the air flow causing the open back side to accelerate faster than the bottom which has not seen air yet.

For additional tips and tricks on sealing your concrete countertop you can go to www.SureCrete.TV, or SureCrete offers the ability to purchase the Xtreme Series Training manual. If you are a concrete contractor, and have the desire to make concrete countertops a business, SureCrete offers certification courses which are 3 and 5 day courses. You can see the schedule for these events at www.SureCreteDesign.com.