Yes, here I am. Dicking around with concrete counter tops again. I can’t help myself. I’m submitting this right before Halloween so you get some Helloween.
By way of background, several years ago, maybe 7 or so? I redid my master bathroom. It was down to the studs – in the wall, but I was there too – but I’m going to focus on the counter tops here. I built floating cabinets and added secure blocking for mounting. I was planning on doing tile counter tops (this was before I got OCD’d into concrete countertops), but some shiny object distracted me and for some reason, I wanted to finish quickly, so I just poly’d up some nice plywood and used that with a vague intention to return to it. Of course, I never did, as it held up pretty well and served its function.
One thing I got sort of trendy-winked by was ‘floating faucets’, i.e. taps mounted directly in the wall. Now I had a vague trepidation about embedding mixers and valves into the wall, but Nah, who needs to consider failures? They’ll just last forever right? Wrong. So one of the cold tap valves no longer closes fully, so the faucet continually runs (I was smart enough to install accessible shut-off valves, so thankfully I’m just without cold water on one tap). But I cannot reach the mixer to diagnose the problem. Because it’s in the wall. So now I have the opportunity to revisit the whole damn thing. Using the space for several years – though admittedly only every month or so; you know, for monthly hygiene, brushing teeth, combing hair, washing hands, shaving, that sort of thing – two major problem have become apparent. The aforementioned in-wall fixtures with the manifested failure mode and the lack of connection between the floating cabinets – extra counter space would be very useful. So I decided to fix the leaking cold water valve by replacing the counter top and installing a more traditional (and more maintainable) faucets. Since every other counter top in the house is now concrete, that’s the obvious choice.
All my other counter top pours have been pour in place – Prepare the cabinets and surrounding areas and pour the concrete directly. The advantage is that you see your finished surface immediately and can fuss with it (though not too much!) to make it as smooth and defect free while the concrete is workable. The disadvantage is that it’s messy and makes the space largely unusable for a week or more. When the space is undergoing a complete remodel or can be staged in a manner that makes sense that’s all fine. Here, I really didn’t want to prep the master for the mess (and the inevitable clean up that will only be partially successful afterwards) and have it unusable for weeks. So the other option is pre-cast. Not surprisingly the downsides of precast are sort of the inverse of pour in place. You don’t see the finished surface until the concrete cures and you have to move a potentially very heavy and fragile piece of concrete. But the mess stays where it belongs – in the garage in this case – and only have the space blocked off for a day when you move the finished counter into place. So I went with a pre-cast option for this one.
Step the first – make a form. Measure the counter carefully, cut some melamine board (slick surface allows better concrete release) and build the form. Here, I went with a fairly thin pour (helps with the weight) of 1.25 inches with an additional 0.5 inch down-hang around the edge – that edge will hang down over the top the cabinets and hide any imperfection in the cabinet edges. I made the back of the form 0.5 inches shorter than the front and sides so that I could put in a piece to form the down-hang edge. You also need to carefully measure and mark out where the sink drain and faucet mounts will be. I used some ABS and PVC pipe scraps I had and tacked them down with hot glue and caulk. The form was tacked together it finish nails. For the edge over hang, I built a 0.5 inch form that would sit 1 inch in from the side and front of the forms to form the rim. With the form built, I put a thin bead of caulk in all the edges.
Step the second – cut/bend rebar. Since this is going to be thin, I added a fair amount of rebar, especially where the counter top will span the gap between the cabinets. I’ll build some supports across the gap as well but it’s only about a foot, so hopefully will be OK. Assuming I can get it in without breaking something. The counter top you pervs.
Step the third – actually pour the concrete. When I’m ready to pour, I sprayed the inside of the form with some avocado oil kitchen spray I had to, hopefully, ease with separating the concrete from the form once it’s cured. Nothing left but to pour now.
The pour went fairly smoothly, the usual cursing about trying to mix and distribute/finish while mixing the next batch, the usual mess of concrete dust and excess concrete falling out everywhere as you screed. You know, fun on a bun. I tried to manually work the concrete into the corners and edges and vibrate as much as possible, since those form edges, corners, surface will be the finished counter top. Once the base was poured (level with the back of the form), I tacked the overhang edge form in place and filled the 1/2 x 1 in rim in, packing by hand – or by finger really – and vibrating as I went… Now with pre-cast, the visible part of the pour will be the bottom of the counter top, so there’s no need to make it pretty – and I didn’t – just nice and flat so it will sit level on the counter tops.
Step the fourth – Wait. And pretend it’s all going to be perfectly fine. Now it’s time to wait for it to cure. At time of writing, I haven’t taken the form apart. So I don’t know if it worked well enough to go the next stages – Polish, stain, and move into place. The final installment might be very short. “The surface looked like crap, threw it out” or “Looked okay, broke it into a million pieces moving it into place.” We’ll see in a week or so.
I hate cliffhangers.
So stressful on the arms.
The reboot is scheduled for release in August.
The movie was good, but not good enough for a reboot.
Let me guess, it will be a girl boss hero this time?
Looks like your guess was correct.
Spoiler: Mostly worked out. Haven’t moved it yet, so the whole break into a thousand pieces has not yet been resolved…
🙂
Nice. Hope it works out
Helloween, excellent choice.
The real video version is chopped to pieces.
Good luck with getting it put into place.
How heavy is it?
Weight, don’t know exactly; I’d estimate ~120lbs+
So I can move it myself from a weight perspective, but not from an awkwardness/control perspective.
Could you put it on a board for the actual carry into the bathroom?
That’s the tentative plan. At ~23 inches wide, it can fit through the doors horizontally, so there should be minimal rotations and weird angles which will help with control. Might even rig up a temporary rolling platform from some 2×4 and plywood.
Can you leave it in the form, put it on a dolly and wheel it into your bathroom and strip it there?
Can you leave it in the form
Can do that; however, one needs to polish (read grind) and stain the counter top face and to do so, you have to remove from the form and flip it. So that would leave a bunch of mess yet to be made – you have seen a true mess until you run a wet grind wheel on concrete… – in the bathroom, which I was trying to avoid.
So I’ve already extracted from the form and stained. I’m thinking I’ll have to make a wheeled contraption to roll it through the house and minimize carrying distance. I’m not sure I can put it on a dolly (vertical) and extract in the bathroom back to horizontal without breaking something. Maybe my back.
Keeper of the Seven Keys 1 & 2 are both great… the rest of their stuff has never grabbed me, but those two are enough anyway.
Same here, 1 and 2 (I didn’t realize until just now there are parts 3 and 4…). I thought “Walls of Jericho” was OK as well. But never really got into them beyond those albums. I even tried to like Gamma Ray, but those iterations never grabbed me either.
Now I had a vague trepidation about embedding mixers and valves into the wall, but Nah, who needs to consider failures? They’ll just last forever right?
What could possibly go wrong?
My project yesterday was changing a shower curtain. It went fairly well. Wore me out though.
You are an artisan, PM.
Curiosity- did you consider using an epoxy / crushed stone mix instead of concrete? I think it’s lighter.
I have looked at doing something like this many times over the years. In my tiny kitchen in Montana I did a one piece wood counter and sink sealed with two part fiberglass epoxy (using random scraps of wood I had lying around). It was supposed to be a proof of concept; I wanted a large but shallow sink, and I have never been able to find such a thing. Anyway, the proof of concept version worked so well I never got around to making the “finished product” version.
i thought epoxy was kinda difficult to pour
ps- I assume an epoxy version would be significantly more expensive.
Did you mix strengthening fibers into the concrete?
Re: Epoxy/stone. I’ve thought about that sort of thing, but it seems to require more artistic skill than what I posses. With concrete, the ‘natural stone look’ sort of pops up … naturally when you stain it. Some artistic license in mixing different stain levels vis-a-vis water to stain ratio and sort of ‘artistically’ distributing them on the surface. Different absorption levels in the concrete take care of the rest. IOW, getting a natural stone look final product is relatively easy. I’m not so sure that’s the case with epoxy.
Fibers: I did that on one test pour and didn’t really see any obvious benefit so as to counteract the hassle of mixing and embedding. I’ve tried other concrete additives for flow and they just seem to make a mess (likely due to my ignorance in how to properly measure/use) without any obvious commensurate improvement in the finished surfaces. So I’ve sort of gotten to just using standard small aggregate concretes.
Concrete is for poors. All my countertops are solid platinum.
So you’re the one stealing the catalytic converters.
that is offensive and you should be canceled
Also i am constantly amazed about you people doing orphan work yourselves. a true glibertarian is a gentleman of leisure and does no work
He can’t show the orphan assistants in pictures, you know the rules.
Imagine ruining a franchise so hard, that even Disney taps out…
https://gizmodo.com/doctor-who-2026-return-disney-deal-dead-2000677999
It got so bad. So bad. Just go see the little clips on YouTube for examples. It may be dead and buried now.
If there were any proof needed that the TV license in the UK needs to be scrapped, everyone at the BBC fired, and the IP auctioned off to the highest bidders to refund the TV Fee payers for the past two decades, there it is.
Agreed.
The deliberate destruction of Top Gear is another reason.
Doctor Groom
I’ll give Chris Chibnall credit for one thing — his writing was so crappy that I wasn’t even tempted to care when RTD tried ‘member berries coating his agenda cobbler.
“… tried ‘member berries coating his agenda cobbler.”
Hrm. Distinct. Not sure *how* to fap to that, but I’m creative. Innovative, even.
*ziiiip*
Monster
So there are technologies that can help, but there are dangers in imposing new ones on a community without understanding their needs. Manyangadze’s group also published an open letter calling for reparations for farmers from the Gates Foundation last year.
“Their interventions are further pushing Africa’s food system towards a corporatized model of industrial agriculture,” the letter says. That’s left farmers in debt in order to pay for more costly synthetic fertilizers and novel seeds, it explains, and ignores Indigenous knowledge that can make farming more sustainable. Gates’ agenda for agriculture would greatly increase corporate control over food systems in Africa and dependence on energy-hungry technologies, Malkan adds.
Subsistence farming is a noble tradition and must be protected from white colonizers’ depraved fetish for increased efficiency.
Yes, routine famines and starvation is preferrable to corporate control.
I love how the college commies sit disease free in their air conditioned, electric lit rooms In front of their 5000 dollar laptops, full like a tick of fresh, safe food and write “Them niggers need to stay in their place”.
Someone said this morning?last night? you cant make fun of these people, they are already a parody of themselves.
Is the rebar tied together at all?
No. Normally do, and I probably lose some of the tensile strength benefit by not tying the structure together. However, with how thin the pour was, tying together with overlap (roughly double the vertical height of the rebar) gets it uncomfortably close to surfaces.
Would think that for something that thin, wire mesh would be better. In this application the bars are probably doing most of the load carrying.
Agree with Plinker. For a pour that thin, I may have used two layers of 1/4″ galvanized steel mesh (laid diagonally), but definitely one.
there is something so compelling about the accessibility of her beauty but I just cannot put my fingers on it
https://x.com/uncledoomer/status/1983887409692737768
But what will time and gravity do to them titties?
fud reaper 🪦
@fudreaper_
she has a large mouth bass type face. that’s what it reminds ur subconscious of – fishing with grandpa
add a massive rack and you’re caught just like that first 9 pounder you reeled in with your old man.
Who is this? I cant log in at X
sydney sweeny Americas darling
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/G4gvFenXgAAa0Hs?format=jpg&name=medium
this should not need login
Ah. I get the idea.
Yes, time will not be kind to her. Never mind that, it is not the measure of a woman.
She’s said she basically lives on french fries and other junk.
Nice while your metabolism can handle that but tick-tock, tick-tock…
“there is something so compelling about the accessibility of her beauty but I just cannot put my fingers on it”
That’s a really fancy way to say HAWT.
there is something so compelling about the accessibility of her beauty but I just cannot put my fingers on it
Potentially inappropriate material, must log in to view.
More performative prudery. Eat shit and die.
Who is this? I cant log in at X
I assume it’s Sydney Sweeney, she wolf of the SS.
I should tag that film for Audience Appreciation Thursdays for y0u.
Unfortunately, JustWatch no longer seems to show whether movies are available on some of the FAST platforms like Tubi and Pluto. Probably took money from some of the subscription services. Crunchyroll seems to show up there a lot more.
I noticed. I did find Ilsa on an obscure Russian service. So one of your selections is available.
You are also down for “Man in a White Suit” and “Yakuza Apocalypse “
Oh, both of those are available on TUBI! So you are definitely in for November.
This is a brilliant, low-budget movie if you ever need something to fill a slot.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wizard_of_Speed_and_Time
That was Late P. Brooks’ selections. Ted S, you are down for “Lady Chatterley’s Lover.”
Kinnath – Noted.
Ted S.:
On the plus side, I’ve noticed that JustWatch now includes DVD and Blu-Ray copies for sale (not from Amazon though), which I consider a big boon. If for no other reason than seeing if something is in print and available or not.
Nah, who needs to consider failures? They’ll just last forever right?
All I can hear in my head is, “Nah, it’ll be fine” in a Scottish accent.
That’s exactly what I was hearing in my head when I wrote it!
My MIL has one of those basin sinks in a bathroom and I hates it.
Unusable counter space and just a perfect place for crud to form at the base.
I don’t think you lose any more counter space vessel (above counter top) sink vs the standard. In fact gain a little underneath the lip. Where….
dust and crud can collect! But I only really use the sink every month or so, for scheduled hygiene, so it’s less of an issue.
Yup. I absolutely hate that design.
Speaking of movies, I watched Casino last night. I had never watched it all the way through from beginning to end, just bits and pieces.
Better than Gangs of New York, anyway.
*Gangs of New York sucked so immeasurably hard I vowed to never watch another Scorsese film again.
A photographer in southern Spain captured what is believed to be the first-ever white Iberian lynx, a leucistic big cat so rare it seems almost mythical. Already one of the world’s rarest cats, the Iberian lynx was pulled back from the brink of extinction after its population fell below 100 two decades ago.
https://x.com/Breaking911/status/1983526931652833316
if you want to see a lynx, leave a cardboard box out. The lynx will go sit in it.
She’s said she basically lives on french fries and other junk.
Nice while your metabolism can handle that but tick-tock, tick-tock…
Somebody linked a story about her “ruining” the World Series by being on FOX. In the accompanying photo (assuming it’s current) she looks like she has dropped some weight. Maybe for a role?
1) Yeah — her current movie is some female boxer biopic — so I can imagine she had to tone up for that.
2) Her working on cars, shooting guns and liking normal food is part of her appeal… she legitimately seems like a “girl next door” instead of some plastic, fake make up duck lips Barbie porn wannabe fashionista like most celebs. At least that’s my view of things.
2)
That’s exactly it. She’s a good looking woman, but not so exceptional – OK, maybe the boobs are on that side of things – so as to justify the hype. If the hype is purely based on physical attractiveness. But I think a large (boobs) part of the reaction to her is the apparent genuineness. She gives the impression of being a down-to-earth normal person. It’s sad that that characteristic is so lacking in so many in Hollywood that it makes her exceptional and that much more attractive.
It also tells you, if you care to look, a little bit about what males of the species find truly attractive.
Same reason Mary Ann was preferable to Ginger, and Bailey Quarters was hotter than Loni Anderson’s character.
Mary Anne and Bailey were approachable.
Ginger and Jennifer were not.
I love how the college commies sit disease free in their air conditioned, electric lit rooms In front of their 5000 dollar laptops, full like a tick of fresh, safe food and write “Them niggers need to stay in their place”.
They are perfectly able to extoll the virtues of the indigenous wisdom embodied in subsistence farming while being completely oblivious to the effect on those indigenous farmers of NGO do-gooders dumping large quantities of food aid which is the product of western industrial high yield agriculture into the market.
So security guard and car living guy are still making above the federal poverty level, right? Otherwise they can get “free” Medicare.
Brownsville security guard Nicholas Ostermann is wondering if he can go without ADHD medication and keep his job. Freelance personal trainer and coach Daniel Hidalgo in Kendall is planning to do whatever it takes to avoid landing in medical debt, even if it means briefly living out of his car.
‘Do I need my healthcare?’ Anxiety builds over insurance costs in Obamacare capital
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/health-care/article312608738.html
she legitimately seems like a “girl next door” instead of some plastic, fake make up duck lips Barbie porn wannabe fashionista like most celebs. At least that’s my view of things.
Me too. But- I find it really baffling that there don’t seem to be any photos of her smiling or laughing. I assume she has been coached to do that weird sleepy eyed face when the photographers show up. Or else she’s stoned to the gills all the time.
There is nothing sexier a woman can put on than a big happy smile.
It’s the heavy-lidded, disinterested look of a low IQ minimum wage dollar store employee. I hate that look. I prefer a good smile too.
No argument — this interview had her not stoned or whatever the problem is…
her hot ones interview got viral
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9ZhleGV4Qc
What’s with all the gushing about SS lately? I get it…the girl said she is gonna make as much bank as she can on her tits while she can cuz why not. She seems smart. That’s the sexiest thing about her.
What gave me a boner about her was her shooting. If I was looking for a slab of meat you can find better at any Jr college in the country.
The gushing would be standard Daily Mail stuff if the left wasn’t pitching such a fit about her. And the only reason they’re doing that is because she’s not 100% woke which makes her MAGA. I don’t make the rules, Suthen.
The Jetson ONE personal air vehicle.
Price: $128,000
https://x.com/Rainmaker1973/status/1983771228667249141
Garrick I – Rex Britannia – Imperator Americæ
@Boydesian
This will revolutionize how rich people crash into trees.
Seriously? Bloomberg has me rolling my eyes by the sub-headline. I haven’t even started the article.
The Popular 3D-Printed Gun Globalizing the Second Amendment
Designed by a German incel, the FGC-9 was created in a distinctly American spirit.
https://archive.fo/Q39SS
that seems like a totally unbiased article.
I’m assuming this was a European reporter writing for Europeans.
It’s completely devoid of anything useful like:
– How to get ammunition
– How they get a functional piece that won’t destroy itself with just a few shots.
In trying not to disclose anything about the “piece” it’s like they are talking about magic. Instead it’s about angst and the groups with that angst. It’s like 1,500 words of the nothing but describing people she doesn’t like.
guns are bad mkay
Don’t waste your time. The author just cannot help but throw in little snide comments. You would just be annoyed.
The key thing was that it could be built surreptitiously, making it so untraceable that it was the ultimate “ghost gun.” Many of its components are unregulated, unremarkable metal bits: springs, screws, nuts, washers. JStark1809 suggested places where they might be found, such as AliExpress, eBay or the hardware store McMaster-Carr.
We’re gonna need a bigger fainting couch.
You know what else I can buy on McMaster-Carr? Pressure vessels. Do you know what I can do with pressure vessels?
They also sell brooms, so witches like her should approve.
Put your waders on
The key thing was that it could be built surreptitiously, making it so untraceable that it was the ultimate “ghost gun.” Many of its components are unregulated, unremarkable metal bits: springs, screws, nuts, washers. JStark1809 suggested places where they might be found, such as AliExpress, eBay or the hardware store McMaster-Carr.
It’s like a giant dump truck full of weepy emotional bullshit.
I must make myself very clear. The answer doesn’t lie in limiting freedom, but in strengthening the foundations that make freedom humane: family, faith, responsibility, and restraint. When those start to fade away, the gun fills the void.
Until that hard truth is faced, the blood will keep flowing. And the rest of the world will keep wondering how a nation so powerful became so powerless to stop its own citizens from killing each other.
What about common sense vacuous platitude control?
family, faith, responsibility, and restraint – the modern world is replete with those
https://x.com/WallStreetApes/status/1983367850938249693
LOL. They find the worst people for this.
She might be too fat for Tres, but complains she need food stamps.
I wonder what the kids look like.
Skin and bones?
Imagine a Spherical cow…
Standing Ovation GIF for UnCiv.
The ones she hasn’t already eaten?
She’s not too far off from my oldest, who I estimate was eating 3x what me or the Mrs. would eat in a day, plus all the junk food she could smuggle.
That person could cut her calories in half and still be overweight.
Please tell me everyone else broke out in laughter.
Current ear worm that I can’t shake.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8P_xTBpAcY&list=RDQ8P_xTBpAcY&start_radio=1
Could be something far worse I suppose.
could it, though? that is a horrible song
Boomers, Pie…Boomers.
“packing by hand – or by finger really – and vibrating as I wen
Giggity
I was disappointed no one grabbed that one, so to speak. Thank you for restoring my faith in my fellow commentariat.
It was just too easy.
Putrid, let me know if I’m stepping on your toes because I remember your last concrete counter post, but I don’t remember if we discussed plumbing particulars (“HONEY PLEASE GET ME SOME BLACK CAULK WHILE YOU’RE OUT!!!” shouted out the front door loud enough for the whole neighborhood to hear as my husband was getting in the car.), but:
Use PEX pipe and SharkBite connectors.
SharkBite does God’s work, amen.
I use pex to run lines. The PVC and ABS here were simply to produce penetrations of the right diameter through the counter top to run the drains and supply lines through – they get cut out and discarded.
When I redid the plumbing the in the kitchen, supply lines were all pex with a pex crimp tool. I use sharkbite to attach valves and the like to the existing copper lines in the house, but crimp all the pex. Also find sharkbite very useful where you have a copper line barely protruding from, e.g. a brick wall, and you can’t really reach for a solder connection. Sharkbite connectors can just slide into the recess and provide a good connection, even without having full access to where the connection needs to be made. Found it very useful when replacing the water heater (and adding branch supply lines for a utility sink off it) as well as outdoor hose bibs.
Relevant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbiiBieh5oA
The Truth about Kenwood, Aiwa, Onkyo No-one Talks About
I’m a long time Onkyo fan.
This is a current product from the rebooted Aiwa:
https://a.co/d/3s3CpJS
Retro classy.
← Saturday I have to put my regular dress back on, and put this one away until next October.
Just doesn’t feel like Halloween this year. I think it has been to hectic.
Or “too hectic.” Apple correct can suck it.
RJ has been to hectic and back.