Despite the fact that today you can buy or order any furniture, many people prefer to make their own furnishings. Most often, furniture is made from wood (solid wood, panels, waste), which has been repeatedly discussed on the portal, but today we will talk about another universal material - concrete. In this article, the craftsmen of our portal pour concrete countertops for the office and kitchen, make a concrete sink, and implement other interesting projects.
The use of concrete in the manufacture of furniture
Typically, concrete is associated with foundations, floors, screeds, stairs and similar massive products that are subject to high loads during operation. Initially, only garden furniture was made from concrete, but today it is also successfully used for home furniture. The most common are monolithic kitchens, in which not only the concrete countertop is cast, but also the partitions. However, there are also:
- concrete kitchen islands,
- sinks with portals for bathrooms,
- coffee tables,
- consoles,
- shelves,
- window sills,
- computer tables.
Such furniture is made either entirely from concrete or in combination with wood or other materials.
The composition of the solution is selected based on the scope of application, but in most cases it is a cement-sand mixture (CSM) with the addition of plasticizers. Depending on the desired result, various fine fillers are also introduced:
- crushed stone,
- granite,
- marble chips,
- coil and others.
In large products, such as countertops or consoles, a metal mesh or reinforcement frame (metal or composite) must be used.
Formwork for pouring is made either from smooth sheet materials (sheets of plywood, laminated plywood, laminate, chipboard) or from boards, but for better formwork, the board is covered with thick plastic film.
There are two methods of casting - direct and reverse, in the first case the formwork is assembled on site, and the top of the pour will be the front side, in the second - the form is assembled and poured separately, when installed, the bottom becomes the top. Backfilling makes it easier to achieve a smooth surface and reduces finishing labor.
To ensure that countertops, especially those with concrete sinks, look beautiful, repel moisture and are not damaged during use, the concrete is repeatedly ground and treated with special compounds - hardeners and water repellents.
As in the case of sanded floors, this finishing allows you to reveal the structure, add gloss and significantly increase the surface's resistance to abrasion.
On our portal, the topic of concrete furniture was discovered several years ago by a participant with the nickname Dobermax, who shared the technology of pouring a console tabletop with his own hands for a computer desk made of concrete.
Table of comparative characteristics of laboratory surfaces
| Index | Plastic type LAB (P) | Porcelain granite (K) | Stainless steel (N) | Sloplast (C) | Marble (M) / Granite (G) | Metal- ceramics (MC) | Monolithic plastic TRESPA (T) | Composite DURCON (D) | |
| Chemical resistance | acids | ✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪ | ✪✪ | ✪✪ | ✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪ |
| alkalis | ✪✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪✪ | |
| solvents | ✪✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪ | |
| dyes | ✪ | ✪ | ✪ | ✪ | ✪ | ✪✪✪ | ✪✪ | ✪ | |
| Heat resistance | ✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪ | |
| Moisture resistance | ✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪✪ | |
| Impact resistance | ✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪ | ✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪ | |
| Abrasion resistance | ✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪ | |
| Easy to care for | ✪✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪✪ | |
| Durability | ✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪✪ | |
| Price category | ✪ | ✪ | ✪✪ | ✪✪ | ✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪ | ✪✪✪✪✪ | |
| Performance rating scale: ✪✪✪✪✪ excellent; ✪✪✪✪ very high; ✪✪✪ high; ✪✪ low; ✪ low. | |||||||||
Concrete table in red and monolithic consoles
DobermaxFORUMHOUSE Member
There was an old, shabby table in one of the corners of the apartment, and I just needed to rehearse with concrete, and I decided to create a concrete tabletop. I assembled the formwork and reinforcement into the walls, tied it together and poured it. The concrete countertop is ready.
For concreting, the craftsman used a standard DSP, a rough leveling mixture for the floor and a finishing self-leveling floor. The reinforcement is fiberglass, 4 mm thick, “recessed” into the wall by 8 cm (as far as the drill is enough), the frame is connected with a pitch of 15 cm.
First, I poured the necessary base from CPS (sand concrete without filler), so that I did not have to level it under the finishing layer, and poured a leveling mixture on top of the sand concrete. After stripping the surface of the cement countertop, I sanded it well, primed it, and glued polyurethane molding along the edge a few mm above the surface.
It not only protected the edge from chipping, and the household from a rather sharp edge, but also simplified the filling of the finishing composition. Since the “filler” is already tinted and has a pronounced gloss, no additional manipulations with the tabletop were needed.
After the concrete countertop was made by hand, Dobermax also poured a universal concrete “window sill-table-bed” console and something like a bar counter.
Dobermax
The point is that concrete “floats” in the air, being very strong and reliable. The technology is unique, but not much pain: formwork, reinforcement, pouring, sanding, finishing. I like the result.
Preventing unnecessary work
Once the worktop was sanded, cleaned and dried, we applied masking tape around the perimeter to protect the overlying wall and the tiles on it from being cleaned once the job was completed. After all, concrete applied to the tiles could stain them, and then there would be more work. But this simple method of protecting the surface from unnecessary dirt turned out to be very effective - after applying a layer of putty, the tape should simply be removed along with the dirt that had fallen on it.
Concrete kitchen countertop
The topic turned out to be in demand, and other connoisseurs of concrete countertops for the kitchen and other homemade products joined the discussion. Dmitrich069 initially planned to use ready-made concrete to pour the kitchen countertop (50 mm thick), but in the end he settled on a regular DSP.
After curing, I sanded and polished the surface.
Dmitrich069FORUMHOUSE Member
Turbo cup, grain 00, is needed for rough processing of concrete for countertops. The diamond grain is very large in size, the slightest awkward movement, and a hole 1-2 mm deep. This happened to me when the casing for a vacuum cleaner was unscrewed and I got a deep hole from a disc in the shape of a semicircle. Then you need to close the pores - cement with water (1/2) and polishing with grain 50. Next, soft discs with rubber knitting (turtles), grain 50, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1500, 3000.
The craftsman advises to first completely sand the concrete (adjustable grinder, 3000-3500 rpm), and then impregnate it with a hardener and polish it, since even small marks cannot be removed after impregnation.
And one more nuance - the sand must be without clay and must be sifted through a fine sieve, otherwise during grinding the foreign inclusions will simply be torn out and shells will remain.
To remove the shells and marks from the diamond cup, I had to remove the entire hardened layer, re-sand with a bakelite wheel and polish (in three approaches with the hardener).
After impregnation with a water repellent, the color of the concrete countertop became richer and the appearance more refined.
Advice from the participants in the topic is to maintain a protective layer over the reinforcement frame; if it is less than 2 cm, cracks may occur. To prevent cracking, it is still advisable to add crushed stone or other stone filler.
Metal ceramics
Index in the product code: MK
The metal-ceramic working surface is made of steel with a thickness of at least 1.5 mm (GOST 24244; GOST 9045). The metal is coated with metal ceramics and fired in a furnace at 850°C in accordance with DIN EN ISO 2178; DIN EN ISO 2360; GOST 24788. Characterized by particularly high wear resistance, acid and heat resistance, and moisture resistance.
Working surface Ceramic metal is used in the manufacture, for example, of the following models of laboratory furniture:
- Instrument laboratory table 1200×600×750/950, NL, metal ceramics
- Chemical wall-mounted laboratory table 900×790×900/1650, metal shelves, sockets, NL, metal ceramics
- Chemical island laboratory table 1500×1200×900/1650, metal shelf, sockets, NL, metal ceramics
- Physics island laboratory table 1200×1200×750/1500, glass shelves, sockets, lamp, NL, metal ceramics
Concrete countertop with bathroom sink and coffee table in black
There is also a ready-made example on the forum of a concrete countertop with a bathroom sink.
Anrushka1FORUMHOUSE Member
The sink is made of concrete, sand, screenings and cement, decorative elements and pebbles are visible on top, I regret that I didn’t add more of them. I made the formwork, reinforced it, poured it, when it dried - sanding with a rough wheel, then with flexible “turtles”. As a finish, it was coated with varnish for exterior use, which I also regretted; ordinary varnish, after prolonged exposure to water, begins to glow with blue highlights. It needed to be coated with polyurethane.
The craftsman first sanded the main surface with a grinder with a hard wheel; for the next stage of work, a grinding machine was required; hard-to-reach parts were sanded manually. For the future, Anrushka1 advises everyone to treat such areas with their hands until the concrete for the countertop has completely set, and only when it has hardened with a grinder. You will have to purchase several “turtles” for fine grinding.
Anrushka1
You need to take from the smaller grains and in order, you need to use everything, jump over only after 800 and then not much, you will kill the turtle quickly. They also come in sizes less than 1500, 2000, 3000, but since I varnished, the last 1000 was enough for me.
After washing, I cast a coffee table with the addition of black pigment, assembled the formwork from 25 mm thick boards, a plywood bottom and everything was wrapped in film. Subsequently, grinding and polishing, in the middle - impact-resistant glass and lighting.
The final stage is decoration
To make the countertop look like marble, granite, or have any other shade other than gray, a special pigment (color) is added to the mixture.
To increase the originality of the product, the concrete surface can be decorated. This should be done at the stage of pouring the mixture. The front part must be designed correctly and harmoniously.
To give a marbled look, it is necessary to mix the dye with water, and then add it to the solution
Broken glass and beads are most often used for decoration. You can make a pattern from wire. All this is laid on a polyethylene film.
Decorative elements in the form of coins, shells, pebbles must be placed at the bottom of the formwork before pouring the solution into the mold and secured with transparent glue
The decor is secured with glue. This will allow the elements to stay in place. You can use photographs that are pre-wrapped with a special moisture-resistant film.
A tabletop made from concrete mortar can look very original
Final project
Although every care was taken to create a neat, beautiful fill, it was quite nerve-wracking when it came time to unscrew the metal square. But the mixture went on so well that it looked perfect. For an even better result, we ran sandpaper along the edges of the tabletop and were happy with the result.
After opening the car wash, we made sure that everything was fine in this area too.
Dilution of the mixture
A special feature of the finishing material we have chosen—finish concrete coating—is its ability to quickly harden. This should definitely be taken into account when diluting the mixture - it needs to be prepared in small portions, otherwise a lot of material will simply be spoiled and thrown away. You should not be afraid that you will cover the surface in small areas - a wide trowel will help you level all the layers.
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Some features of the work
The corners and joints of the horizontal surface of the table top and vertical walls need to be worked out with movements in different directions. The mixture is first applied with upward pulling movements, and then it should be distributed by moving the trowel horizontally to the left and right. This will make the coating smoother and more uniform.
Try to initially make the concrete layer even, without depressions or bulges due to excess or lack of mass. This will avoid wasting time, material and effort for its subsequent alignment. Since the concrete layer is thin - literally a few millimeters - this is not difficult to do if you take maximum care in your work.
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The purpose of graffiti in the interior
The main purpose of graffiti in the rooms of a house or apartment is not to pay tribute to fashion, but to express your feelings and show them to loved ones. Drawings on the walls make the home bright and give joy to all the people living in it. Decorating walls with graffiti allows you to expand the space of one room to infinity. Three-dimensional drawings can carry you far forward, into the depths of their stories.
Graffiti in the interior becomes the owner's calling card. It reflects his vision of life, art, desires, shows strength of character or hints at his weaknesses. Everyone draws on the wall something that reflects his thoughts, capabilities and even emotional experiences. A unique interior is more of a bonus than a goal. Before you paint graffiti on a wall, it's worth taking a few lessons from an artist who specializes in this form of art. He will not teach you what exactly needs to be painted, but will only tell you how to work with paint correctly and what materials are best to paint.
