1901 Farmhouse renovation

Looks great!!
 
rockcity said:
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Drywall went up and we formed up for the concrete counter tops. Added some reinforcing because along the back side of the island the counter top extended 11".

Next up is trim around doors, windows, and baseboards.
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Did you put anything in the corners, or just leave the dead space?

What were you using around the edge as the "mold" for the counter? It looks like it will make a much nicer edge vs flat boards.
 
The corner to the right of the sink has plumbing but the space on the left is just dead space. The dishwasher is there so there wasn't really an opportunity to utilize that space without a lot of work that wouldn't really be worth it for this project.

As for the counter top form, I used a half bullnose plastic form specifically for concrete counter tops. It creates a simple yet somewhat nicer edge than using a square edge.
 
rockcity said:
As for the counter top form, I used a half bullnose plastic form specifically for concrete counter tops. It creates a simple yet somewhat nicer edge than using a square edge.
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Awesome. I havent looked at concrete stuff in a while.

What'd you do for vibrating and polishing?
 
paradisePWoffrd said:
Awesome. I havent looked at concrete stuff in a while.

What'd you do for vibrating and polishing?
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I just tapped on the forms with a small hammer. Also used an oscillating tool and orbital sander on the form, just depends on what was available.


As for polishing, I used a carbide tipped cup grinder to get everything as flat as I wanted and to expose some of the aggregate for a little cooler look. This was pretty smooth, maybe comparable to what you would get with a 300grit sander. Then I used a rubber backing pad with a Velcro attached carbide sander disc and polished it in several stages up to 800 grit. I could go up to 3,000 grit but the smoother it gets the more difficult it is for the sealer to absorb.
 
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For perspective, the 2nd photo was taken when standing in the old doorway between the foyer and the hall that went to the back of the house. No more cramped walls and useless spaces.




Mixing, pouring, and finishing concrete indoors is quite messy! :D

For the sink, we used a sticky vinyl strip to make the counter top form flush with the sink. I added some leftover foam board and stacked it up and make it fit tight to the form for support. I added the CMU block as weight. It worked pretty good and the form didn't bow at all.

Because I'm too cheap to buy the faucet knockout forms, I made some out of wood and coated them in form release. This worked out pretty good. Was definetly cheaper than buying 6 knockouts at $20 each. :)
 
rockcity said:
The corner to the right of the sink has plumbing but the space on the left is just dead space. The dishwasher is there so there wasn't really an opportunity to utilize that space without a lot of work that wouldn't really be worth it for this project.

As for the counter top form, I used a half bullnose plastic form specifically for concrete counter tops. It creates a simple yet somewhat nicer edge than using a square edge.
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Where did you get the bullnose from? I need to redo the concrete counters outside on my deck since they were poured way to thin and they are cracking all over.
 
the only items I purchased from them were the forms. I did try out some of the polishing pads but they didn't last too long and I needed something a little more durable.
 
There are many options available for concrete counter top mix. However, I'm no pro counter top contractor and don't have the slightest idea how to mix the raw materials to create the mix I wanted. So I just bought the Quikrete bagged countertop mix from Lowes. The only Lowes in the state of NC that carries it is West Raleigh. So, either I order it and pay a ton of $ on shipping or I buy it when I was already in Raleigh.

Well, I was passing through with an empty trailer and just decided to buy a pallet of the mix. I do have some bags left over but it was cheaper to have 4 bags of $25 sack-Crete left over than to be short a bag or two.

I built some 12" square forms and made a bunch of samples with different dyes to pick the one we wanted. We chose charcoal gray and used a ratio of 1/2 a bottle of the Quikrete charcoal dye per bag. We maybe wish we had gone darker but it still turned out a nice color and not too dark.
 
We made some concrete stair treads for our patio at the old house... I had an idea, for counters, to sand it down and then smear all the voids full of a contrasting color epoxy grout.
 
trailhugger said:
We made some concrete stair treads for our patio at the old house... I had an idea, for counters, to sand it down and then smear all the voids full of a contrasting color epoxy grout.
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I thought about something similar to this as well since we wanted something darker. But I couldn't really find a feasible way to do it with anything that was food grade.
 
rockcity said:
I thought about something similar to this as well since we wanted something darker. But I couldn't really find a feasible way to do it with anything that was food grade.
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Ya, I never really got into the details of how it would work but that's a good point. Maybe for a bath counter top but you could probably get into something resin or composite for less.
 
Adding a stain would be easy as there are a few out there that are food grade. But I haven't found much that would fill voids and imperfections that was food grade. It's hard enough finding a sealer that is good and is still food grade.
 
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Drywall up and trim going in. Fireplace brick placed and mantle built. The original fireplace had the original brick hidden behind plaster. It was busted up and cracked so we removed it. Instead of covering up that beautiful original brick, we cleaned it up and decided to make it a nice focal point on the now wide open great room. We trimmed out the transition from brick to plaster in faux columns to match those on the front porch and in the kitchen. The columns also serve as a conduit for electrical, coax, and network cables for mounting a TV up high without the wiring dangle down to the wall outlet.
 
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Looks great. Having the original brick exposed definitely helps tie in the old farmhouse feel.

I always try to wait and do trim after the drywall has been painted, and paint/stain it off the wall, that way I don't have to worry about taping the trim for paint and vice versa.
But, that's also b/c I'm a shitty painter.
 
The trim and walls were primed at the same time, so it made it much easier and faster.

Painting the trim before it goes up is a PITA and very time consuming and expensive. No way I was going to do that to 4300' of trim! It's way easier to do it all on the wall at the same time as the walls.
 
Paint paint paint!!



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Front porch ceiling. Pulled down the plain ole white vinyl soffit and installed some galvanized roof tin reclaimed from a pretty old shed on the property that was torn down.

Can also see the new simple shutters Bri made and installed. :)
 
I hate painting. I mean i reeaally hate it. I’ve got to touch up my house to put it on the market and I keep putting it off. I’d rather reach down and snatch out a handful of pubes than paint.
 
Interesting how its turning out, bud.

I cant wait to watch on TV, if its anything like most DIY shows you will be made to look like an idiot and Bri will come off as the bitchy whiny spouse.
 
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