39 person hours of mold building

Today the contractor C and I spent 13 hours working on building the molds. You just wouldn't believe how long it takes. I totally understand why concrete countertops are so expensive. The material is cheap, it's the labor that makes it costly. Every little thing took forever - each piece had to be cut precisely, the corners squared, everything level, etc.

We had hoped to be ready to pour by the end of tonight but that didn't happen. We hope to be ready sometime early afternoon tomorrow. We were both exhausted and incoherent at the end of the night. We went to be around 2 a.m.

Here is a shot of the plywood substrate.


Here is another shot of the plywood.

Here is the partially built mold. We used white melamine because it won't stick to the concrete.



On top of the plywood is cement board. It has brand names such as Durock or Hardiboard. It is not really needed as a structural element in our case - it is mainly so that the concrete adheres properly since it won't adhere to wood. The cement board is rectangular, and appears in this picture as slightly greyish compared to the white melamine.