IPE and Purple Heart Deck

roby12345

New User
Rob
20210911_115810.jpg
The new countertop for our outdoor island. Substrate is 3/4 marine birch...I routed a rollover edge and using Stone Coat epoxy to do a custom pour with greys, pearl, diamond, and blue. I think it turned out pretty nice.
 

creasman

Jim
Staff member
Corporate Member
Looks nice. I've never done anything with epoxy like that. Is the process self-leveling, or is there some sanding & polishing you have to do after it dries? How thick is the epoxy?
 

roby12345

New User
Rob
Looks nice. I've never done anything with epoxy like that. Is the process self-leveling, or is there some sanding & polishing you have to do after it dries? How thick is the epoxy?

It is self leveling, using a flame torch or heat gun to remove any air bubbles. There are various techniques depending in the finish you want. You can sand afterwards and apply a top coat finish to make it more matte if thats preferred. Or you can leave as is. What you see in my pic is the first flood coat of color. After a couple of days of cure, I'm going to apply another flood coat of just clear epoxy to give it more protection and more depth. I like the gloss look, so no sanding.

If you go on you tube and search stone coat counter tops there are a ton of videos professionally done that show step by step. Or go to their website stonecoat and they have a ton of tutorials.

And the best part it is relatively inexpensive compared to a slab of granite. I'm all in at about $300 for 50 sq ft including the wood, epoxy, colors, and I bought some tools like brush and trowel for the final flood coat.

And honestly its very hard to screw up and you can be as creative as you want, and it was really easy.
 

kserdar

Ken
Senior User
You are one brave person (or a bachelor) to attempt that pour in the kitchen.

I still have epoxy on my shop floor from the cedar grill station that got clear poured.
 

roby12345

New User
Rob
You are one brave person (or a bachelor) to attempt that pour in the kitchen.

I still have epoxy on my shop floor from the cedar grill station that got clear poured.
I'm neither...more like OCD. And my wife helped do the pour. I put down plastic, followed by painters paper on top of the counter top. A couple of drips made it to the hardwood but I was ready with alcohol which cleaned it right up before curing.

The great thing about this epoxy is the long open time. It takes about two hours to harden to where it's not flowing, 24 to 48 hours to fully harden and 30 days for a full cure. So plenty of time to color, mess around and clean up before it fully hardens. The process involves using 2 inch painters tape around the perimeter for the first 90 minutes to let it mostly self level. Then pull the tape, wipe the edges to break surface tension, then let it flow over. Very little material ends up off the surface, and you just run a painters stick or tongue depressor underneath the edge to wipe off the drips that form. I did that a couple of times between hour 2 and 3 just to minimize sanding off any stalactites afterwards.
 

Premier Sponsor

Our Sponsors

LATEST FOR SALE LISTINGS

Top