5000 PSI ? Countertops Day 1

• 1/2 Ton of Quickcrete 5000
• 3 sheets of diamond wire
• 21 tubes of charcoal pigment
• 4 sheets of melomene
• 3 mixing tubs
• 27 thick glass bottles
• Help

Saturday it all started to come together. With all of the measurements made, the outlines cut, the sink hole created, and materials purchased, it was time to get down and dirty. My help came from my father-in-law. Little did he know that after driving in from OBX that he would be getting in on the countertop construction action.

For my project, just about 30 square ft of counterspace, I have decided to use quickcrete 5000 that you can buy at Lowe's. I like this stuff for its strength, ease of use, and the fact that it has some really nice stone in it. The stone just looks like rock when it is all mixed in, but after I hit it with the Flex polisher, it will come around and be something really cool.

The first thought was to build 1.5 inches thick. Due to the kerf, pencil marks and such, it looks like they will be 1 3/8 thick. I lost an eigth somwhere in there. Nothing to worry about though. All steps were taken to make sure that these things will be strong. I tie it all together with diamond wire and making sure to vibrate the mix into all the corners and to get all of the air out.

For the glass, well I got Bill to make that happen. Sandy and I had been collecting bottles from the recycle depot that is down around the corner. We were pretty picky. No browns, some cool clear, any and all blue that we could get, and some thick green. Bill was resposible for breaking them all down to usable size. It really is a difficult job. Crash bottles together, pound them in a bucket covered with trashbag (safety first) and then screen them in the yard with a waterhose and some wiremesh!

The color that was used came from Lowes in liquid form. Depot has some color but they only have it in dry powder form. I learned earlier that the liquids mix easier. I used 2 bottles per bag. Our goal was to get a dark gray, close but not black. The color gets mixed with the water and then that gets mixed in with the sacks of 5000.

With the forms built, wire cut, glass broken up, it was time to pour and get dirty. First step is to lay the glass down on the form. That allows you to get even distribution of the glass across the countertop. Once the mix is ready you put the first little bit in by hand. If you pour it in it will move all of the glass around and into the corner opposite of your pour. Once the hand pack is in, I vibrate it to get it all mixed in and into the edges. Once that is done, diamond wire is inserted. I kept the wire 1 inch from all of the sides. Next ...finish filling the mold up to the edge with the mix. Then vibrate again!

Then you wait!

I have posted some pictures over on Flickr. If you look to the left side of the blog you will find some more photos. I really don't like the idea of starting to use another photo server, but Flickr does have some cool features that webshots does not.