“Do Over!” – A concrete countertop repair in Irving, TX
Try as we may, sometimes things simply don’t turn out the way we want them to. That was the case when we showed the owners of an Irving, TX home the new concrete countertops we had installed in their bathroom.
Our client was happy with everything except the color of the countertops. The hue was similar to what they wanted, but it was far enough off the mark that we decided to do what needed to be done to make sure they were completely happy with the job. This concrete countertop repair was going to require resurfacing the entire countertop.
So, what went wrong the first time around? Initially, we had colored the countertop integrally. This means that instead of coloring the countertop at the end by applying a stain to the finished and cured concrete, we instead mixed in a colored pigment during the pour. This works almost always, with few exceptions.
This time, though, it didn’t come out right. There is no standard for gray concrete, and tinting it isn’t an exact science. When a pigment is added to the gray, the color may change slightly from what was expected – this variability is normal and we explain this to our clients, it’s not a paint color that you can order and get exactly what you want. Usually, though, the difference is so subtle that no one really notices it. In this particular case, though it was noticeable.
Fortunately, we have the option of performing a concrete countertop repair that wipes the slate clean, so to speak, so we could try again. The repair consisted of applying an overlay to the countertop, covering up the first round of color. First, we applied a thin base layer of concrete overlay material and let it dry. Then, we applied a second layer, which we also pigmented and trowelled lightly.
After it dried we sanded the entire surface to smooth it out. Then, we applied a water based stain over the entire concrete countertop repair area. We went with a water based stain instead of an acid stain as we can more tightly control the final color. Acid stains create a lot of color variability which was exactly what we didn’t want in this case.
We brought the homeowners in to evaluate the new color, and voila! The second time was the charm and turned their frowns upside down. Once they gave us the thumbs up, we finished the job by sealing the concrete countertops with a water based polyurethane to protect them from moisture infiltration and staining while retaining a matte finish.
As they say, “the customer is always right!” Not only do we agree with this philosophy, but we think they made the right call in sticking to their guns. Though the original and final color applied after the concrete countertop repair were not dramatically different, the new color did work better with the backsplash and their floor and bathtub tiles.
Now the room looks like a warm, serene, Zen-like retreat! Mistakes are an unavoidable part of life but we’re glad we were able to perform a seamless concrete countertop repair to fix this one.
