Outdoor table build progress

speed51133

Thanks. I flooded the area with a hose and it drains. The slab is pitched in the right direction. The L shape is not a 90 but about 130 so it doesn't trap water. 

speed51133

Installed the slabs. Now trying to figure out what size circles to cut in the cement board. I need a cloth tape measure. 

speed51133

speed51133

I keep changing my mind on what kind of veneer to use. Right now I am leaning towards cultured ledger stone, thinking slate might delaminate from constant freeze/thawing (see below for the cultured stone I am thinking of using). I have seen it on slate pavers. Not so much on outdoor siding, but that stuff is usually 1-1.5in thick. I can only fit a max of .75. Most of that stuff says indoor/outdoor but you only really see it indoors. Other natural stones (not slates) are crazy expensive for this project (15 to 25 bucks sq ft).

speed51133

SonVolt

That's a lot of blood, sweat and tears you've put in this project to turn around slap some fake stone veneer on. I'd rather just do stucco. How much is flagstone in your area? That would make a good durable natural veneer and isn't overly thick. 

CTMike

You might give some thought to coating the Durock with RedGard prior to veneer. It will make the board waterproof, can usually get it at Home Depot.

Sweet100s

@speed51133 thanks for posting.  Beautiful project. 

Where did you source those fascinating round metal flanges?    
I don’t recall seeing those on other table builds.

jdMyers

speed51133 said:

I keep changing my mind on what kind of veneer to use. Right now I am leaning towards cultured ledger stone, thinking slate might delaminate from constant freeze/thawing (see below for the cultured stone I am thinking of using). I have seen it on slate pavers. Not so much on outdoor siding, but that stuff is usually 1-1.5in thick. I can only fit a max of .75. Most of that stuff says indoor/outdoor but you only really see it indoors. Other natural stones (not slates) are crazy expensive for this project (15 to 25 bucks sq ft).

I can relate.  Pictured is black natural ledger stone.  Mine is just on top and accent and its ridiculously high priced as well as fragile when cutting.  Its chips so easily.  Im excited about your build.  Also love the egg circle rings.  Great idea.  Wish i would of thought of it.  I put a drawer under my egg.  The drawer width screwed me from enclosing the egg like you did.  Love that look.

speed51133

Thanks for the comments. The ring is plastic. It is just a form for the concrete. It breaks off after the concrete is cured. 
https://www.concretecountertopsolutions.com/product/bendable-square-form

I have matching forms to install around the island I have yet to install. It's 27 degrees right now, might not do it today.

speed51133

Getting closer! Pouring Saturday. 

craigsotheregg

Coming along great. You have inspired me. I've been looking at that  concrete counter website you posted. Don't forget to vibrate and vibrate again. Have fun Saturday!

jdMyers

Im excited for you.  Weather permitting i will have my countertop tomarrow...  

thetrim

Fahkin' bada$$

SaltySam

I just started making plans for a new table to house a large and a MiniMax.  And based on the bananas-level construction of this monster, I will not be showing you my table.

It reminds me of the old Johnny Carson show where Bob Hope, Dean Martin were on the panel, and George Gobel came out third.   He said "You ever get the feeling that the world was a tuxedo, and you were a pair of brown shoes?" 

Seriously, nice work.  You guys have crazy talent. Looking forward to seeing the finished product. 

BGNMI

Really nice. 

speed51133

Installing the reenforcement

speed51133

alaskanassasin

Looks good, those guys are not afraid of making a mess!

speed51133

Those guys? That was me

speed51133

And now it's drink time

alaskanassasin

Sorry I didn’t recognize you without your earring 

Wolfpack

Really fantastic project- you are going to love that setup and will appreciate it even more with all of your sweat equity.  

jdMyers

man that is beautiful

speed51133

alaskanassasin said:

Sorry I didn’t recognize you without your earring 

I didn't get the joke. Sorry 🤨

alaskanassasin

I didn’t realize that was you working the concrete top, don’t know what you look like, didn’t get a card last Christmas. Keep up the good work buddy

speed51133

Oh, I just assumed everyone looks at the  closeup of my profile pic. I'd gladly include you in the Christmas card list. Please provide address. 

speed51133

Time to get to work....

SaltySam

This thread slowed down.  Any updates? 

speed51133

Haha. It did indeed. That is mostly because of setback that was really disappointing. I mixed the concrete with a retarder to give me more time to work the mix. Unfortunately the retarded reacted poorly with the mix. The concrete manufacturing company was very helpful but ultimately stated they do not test it for all conditions. Note, adding retarders is a very normal thing in the concrete world. 

The overall effect was the surface never really cured after 4 days. It was like clay. I took out the diamond grinder and grind it all down until it was solid. Here is the worst part the rest was about 1/8 to .25in.

The part I dug out in the picture was like oatmeal after 4 days. It actually cured solid in the door pit after a few more days. Who knows if it works have been ok. 

I repoured the dug out area and used a bonding adhesive for the cold joint. I then roughened out the new pour.  All the top corner edges of the slab were really soft. So I chiseled them all if and used a special mix to fix them and ground it back to a sharp edge. 



Now I will be adding a topical overlay skim coating to make it all even and smooth. I'll be doing that today. 

This was very frustrating and disappointing but I was able to salvage it. In retrospect I should have had 4 people helping and no retarder. I used a drum mixer and the concrete manufacturer said I should have used a paddle and 5 gal bucket to really agitate the polymers in each bag of the mix. I used the drum to speed it up. The mix sets so fast. By the time you are in the second bucket the first is already not flowing. I used a total of 15 bags. So 3 guys mixing with buckets and one pouring and screedning. Not really practical when a diy protect. A different mix would have helped but this was all I can get locally. Online orders had about 150$ in freight. 

I'll update Monday.