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diy reclaimed wood counter top

12 years ago

I am remodeling a kitchen which has a tiled counter top. The tile is laid on 1 1/4 inch thick partical board base.

We want to remove the tile and lay reclaimed planks either glued or naild to the original base and somehow refinish the planks and coat appropriately with either epoxy or another finish. Is this practical and what pitfalls should I beaware of? Thinking of using 1 inch planks, maybe even reclamed tongue and grove.

Any help appreciated before I get too deep in this.

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Comments (3)

sierraeast
12 years ago
By particle board, if you are talking about the old high density type that was used in the seventies/early eighties, it doesn't hold fasteners well and it doesn't take much moisture/water to cause it to swell and deteriorate. I would remove it as well if that's the case. 1-1/4" I would assume are 3/4" + 1/2" laminated. You are going to want to see how the height differences are going to affect anything concerned.

For a finish, you might consider marine varnish but it is a high gloss finish.
mary52zn8tx
12 years ago
We have solid wood counters, and we finished them with a product called Waterlox. So far no problems. There are a number of reasonably priced wood counters out there. The Kitchen Forum here has all kinds of information.
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Hello, We used a slab of reclaimed old growth cedar as a unique countertop with a hand blown glass sink in one of our offices: We paid about $500 for this slab. In our master bath, we have two Wm. Garvey teak wood vessels. These are incredible sinks and look the same today as when we installed them 4 years ago. Just soap and water clean up and some teak oil about once a year. I've put a link to the website where we bought them. Good luck! Here is a link that might be useful: Wood Sinks
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Hi there, just wanted to share our walnut island top refinishing experience. We got our 2" thick, 72" x 36" walnut top unfinished. My finish carpenter cut the piece and routed the edges. I sanded to 320 with an orbital sander, and then finished with hand sanding. Did this outside on the covered porch because it creates such a mess (red dust everwhere). Took me a couple of hours to get it where I wanted. We then moved it into the garage (to keep smell away from kids) where I applied the waterlox finish (6 days, 6 coats). Lightly sanded b/w coats 2, 4 & 5. Directions say to get it fixed in place no later than one week after delivery to avoid warping (we did it at day 8). Make sure you do this b/c ours started to warp ever so slightly --you can only see it if you examine unerneath closely. (we live by the water and received this during a heatwave!!) I applied waterlox to all sides to further protect it from warping. After we did the underside, we flipped it and put it on boards with screws sticking out to keep it elevated while we finished the top side. It is a lot of work, but saved at least $1500 doing it myself. Here is the finished picture (we still need to do the final steel wool at the one month mark when fully cured) (excuse the mess we are getting ready for painting). we got our top at the hardwood lumber company $900 delivered. ($150 for truck delivery), but this was for 2" thick. PS I am a petite woman who is only slightly handy and I had help only to move the piece into place -- so if I can do it you can!! It was a little stressful because I was terrified I would ruin it -- but it came out fine. : ) Good luck and be patient. Here is a link that might be useful: hardwood lumber company
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Redroze, I won't be using a stain with the Waterlox, so it will be the oak's natural colour, enhanced. Clinresga, I will definitely post pix! (BTW you are the inspiration for something else we'll have in the kitchen - a Modern-Aire hood... :-) Eliz
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99pelmeni
12 years ago
I made my own hardwood kitchen countertop out of sycamore. Sycamore provides of nice combination of a wood that is moderately dense, beautiful and yet still reasonably priced. I began with rough quater sawn lumber (which was also book-match cut) and had them finished down to 1" thick planks which I joined together. The finished counter was 12'x2' with sink centered in the middle. Based on strong encouragement from an expert friend in the hardwood business, I sealed it with Waterlox. Following his advice I block sanded the counter down to 1,000 grit paper, to a near glass finish and then applied 7 coats of Waterlox tung oil. The oil will need to fully cure between coats so this can take a bit of time (it has a strong odor too). Waterlox indeed seems to be some impressive stuff. Very waterproof, and cleans pretty well too- (I use vinegar). The only problem I have noticed is that a particular type of soap was spilled and sat overnight on one spot and it seems to have eroded the finish. Despite 2 years of frequent use the counter still looks good. Yes, it is susceptible to dents and gouging, but wood seems to have an odd way of naturally "healing" over time too. All said and done, I'm happy with the results and would probably do it again. It definitely makes an interesting look for my kitchen.

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