Concrete Countertops

Let’s start at the beginning: What is GFRC, what are its benefits and what are its downsides? GFRC stands for glass-fiber reinforced concrete. The GFRC I use is a composite of portland cement, silica sand, Forton VF-774 , Liquefaction Compound, Vitro Minerals VCAS-micronHS, water, and alkali-resistant chopped glass-fiber strands.

If you're new to making concrete countertops, you may have encountered any of a number of pesky problems. Even experienced concrete countertop artisans encounter a problem now and then, but they will also tell you that practice makes perfect.

The historical structure that now houses the Nashville Dinner Theatre has always attracted attention. During Prohibition times, people slyly used a tunnel in the building to transport alcohol to area nightclubs. Today, it attracts crowds for its dinner shows and performances by local vocalists.

If you’re a concrete contractor in Canada and are considering expanding your business to include countertops, you may appreciate the insights shared by Judy Mead of Concrete Countertops Canada.

Concrete Countertop Solutions, headquartered in Scott Township, Pennsylvania, received more than 400 images in its recent photo contest that commended quality craftsmanship and creativity in projects that featured various Z-form components and products.

Concrete Decor salutes artisans nationwide for their ingenuity and creativity in designing tables and countertops. Here are 10 of our discoveries.

Self-consolidating concrete is a highly technical mix. It is not an easy mix to create, since it requires an understanding of how all the ingredients work together. What’s more, specialized testing is required to characterize and optimize the mix.

Bag mixes for countertops share some characteristics: They are designed to minimize cracking and shrinking, they are strong enough to be poured in thinner slabs and they are optimized for workability.

Scott Cohen, owner of Green Scene Landscaping & Pools in the Los Angeles area, has been designing and building concrete countertops for more than 20 years.

The steps you take with your wet-cast or GFRC countertops prior to sealing them will affect sealer success more than the actual application of the sealer. It’s important to gain an understanding of what your concrete is doing, or more importantly, what you are doing with your concrete.

The acceptance of glass-fiber reinforced concrete (GFRC) has inspired a current trend toward light, thin and delicate concrete furniture.

To illustrate what GFRC can do in furniture form, Jeffrey Girard of The Concrete Countertop Institute describes three projects — a table, a lounge chair and an S chair — that show off the strengths of the material.

Most people don’t think of concrete as being bendable but it is, even in its hardened state. That said, bending and warping concrete is more manageable while it is still in its plastic state.

Thanks to its incorporation of glass fibers into mix design, GFRC is thinner, lighter, stronger and offers more design flexibility.

Fu-Tung Cheng announced the winners of Cheng Concrete’s 2012 Circle of Distinction Design Challenge honoring design and craftsmanship in decorative concrete. The Design Challenge featured nine entry categories.

In 2015, homeowners who had traveled throughout Italy contacted Darryl Bates of Excalibur Surfaces in Simi Valley, California, about wanting Old World-style concrete countertops that looked like the Italian granite they had admired on their trip.

GFRC is a combination of fine aggregate, cement, water, polymer, chemical admixtures and glass fiber. The key to GFRC is the glass-fiber reinforcement. The fibers take the place of steel in a wet-cast mix. They allow GFRC to develop much higher flexural strengths than typical wet-cast concrete, allowing you to cast thinner, lighter sections and pieces.

Getting started in concrete fabrication can be overwhelming. Here are 10 solid pieces of advice that veterans from across the country have for artisans who are setting up shop.

An “outrageous” beach house on the French side of the Caribbean island St. Martin needed an anything-but-usual outdoor table.

Fu-Tung Cheng, award-winning designer and author of Concrete Countertops, is now offering five-day Advanced Countertop Design Trainings. Held in Berkeley, Calif., the trainings are limited to 12 participants and include hours of direct instruction by Cheng.

Born out of frustration with the long learning curve for mastering GFRC, Cheng Concrete’s NeoMix D-FRC is designed to not only shorten that learning curve for contractors, but also to outperform traditional GFRC in regards to flexural strength and abrasion resistance.

The Saale Residence is a new construction home located in a country setting of Winfield, Missouri. All the rooms of the home reflect a consideration for the environment and use of green principles in the design and selection of products.

Contractors working in decorative concrete can often benefit from the use of water reducers. Here’s a look at two types of decorative concrete work and how water reducers can make the job easier and improve the finished product.