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Polished Concrete Worktops: Snog, Marry , Avoid: and why?


ToughButterCup

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A lifetime ago (2016), SWMBO and I had a palpitation or two ? -  Settle down , settle down, the palpitations were about polished concrete floors.  Well, that rush of blood to the withers soon died down. We posted about polishing concrete here  Too expensive.

 

But, the idea (lust?) for concrete has never died. I know they are heavy, need effort, need maintenance, need care. I've viewed endless videos about them.  Loads of German videos about them - surprising that innit?

Somewhat against my better judgement,  I'm eyeing the prospect of building some worktops in my spare time ?

 

But there's not one online resource about the practicality of a concrete worktop. For example, what happens when

  • a heavy shopping bag is dumped on the worktop, and then dragged across it?
  • someone chops food without using a cutting   board?
  • leaves a cut lemon on the concrete surface overnight?
  • someone too full of vim and vigour decides to use wire wool to get rid of a stain?
  • uses a blunt knife to scrape off dried out egg stains?
  • spills bleach on it?

 

Are they more maintenance trouble than they are worth?  Anyone got a concrete worktop and care to share their experience?

Give me some good reasons NOT to give it go please.

 

 

 

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I do not know  if it applicable to this use , but

but when our workshop was laid we specified one that was good enough for tracked  diggers to move on -

after it was laid and still softthere was a couple of men on the concrete "flymo,s " driving about for half a day and chucking in,what looked  like of tree resin  granules+polishing them in 

 

that was done 30=years ago 

it is  bullet proof --does not absorb oil split from normal garage use etc -is not affected by battery acid or brake fluid 

there was never any sign of dust from it just a very nice semi glossy finish 

 can,t remember what the stuff was called --but an addition of that to mix ,if possible will give a very closed surface to the concrete 

over the years we have dug up bits for various reasons and when  repaired the new concrete is terrible in comparsion --the original looks more like stone than concrete

 

 

 

Edited by scottishjohn
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1 hour ago, MikeSharp01 said:

Nope  them (you) Germans were and still are good with concrete just now it is used for different purposes.

 

Naaaah mate, I'll be using less re-bar ....far less re-bar. 

Ich werde viel weniger re-bar verwenden.   Vorsprung durch Beton Jungs!  Well, Technik anyway.

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if you have a pathological need for it to look immaculate at all times, its avoidable. It needs to be cleaned, sealed and polished regularly to keep it looking good.

 

If you can live with the organic wear/stains that will inevitaby appear, then its absolutely fine.

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I vaguely remember a tv show where a guy built outdoor BBQ pits/areas for peoples gardens. On quite a regular basis he had concrete worktops made at a company that let you chose the cement colour and the stone colour. Once it was cut and polished it look pretty good....well....it had the potential to look "tastefull" except he chose pink / pale blue on a regular basis. Anyone else remember this? 

 

I guess if you were set on making it yourself, I would recommend adding a waterproofing to the mix. We have a smooth polished floor in our warehouse and water soaks in leaving a mark. It dries out pretty quick. Oils are the main pain, they eventually spreads so far that it joins up to the other stains.

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