DIY Concrete Countertop w/ HIDDEN TV LIFT || How to Make

what's up guys welcome to my bedroom as

they say this is where the making

happens

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there are a number of products that have

been on my channel in the past in here

behind me of course got the dream bed

build we've got the Soundwave dresser

right down there as much as I love this

room there's still one thing that's not

quite right the TV that sits on the

Soundwave dresser is too low to really

watch in bed and it's kind of an eyesore

to solve this problem I'm going to build

a faux wall that's gonna hide a

motorized TV lift and to give this build

a little something extra I'm going to

hide the TV lift under a 7-foot concrete

countertop which will have integrated

LEDs let's get going and see how it's

done and a big thanks to Squarespace for

making this video possible I started by

breaking down the melamine for the

concrete forms in my garage why am i

garage you ask well because I can't get

four by eight sheets into my basement

shop it's just to trade off they're

living in the city I suppose once I cut

the melamine to a manageable size and

had it in my shop I could cut out the

base of the main concrete form by the

way if you haven't seen my past videos

the melamine is used to make a form

which you pour the concrete into there

are a number approaches to making

concrete forms but for this build I'm

going to cut the base pieces to the

exact shape of my countertop

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so I've got the base of the form right

here I'm just going to do a quick test

fit into the windowsill and over the TV

left to make sure that it fits properly

because we can only pour once no going

back after rapport we can't trim it to

fits one other thing to note is that

when we test fit this we're going to put

it in in the same orientation that the

concrete countertops going to go in but

when we do the pour we're actually going

to flip this base piece over because

we're pouring upside down and everything

needs to be the mirror image it looks

good so back to the shop now we'll make

this form I set up my table saw with a

new melamine blade to cut the sides for

the concrete form in the past I've used

my standard woodworking blade for

melamine and it sometimes chips off the

plastic edges no such problem here with

the melamine blade the edges were just

gorgeous I'm definitely a convert

for the mitered edges on the sides

there's no need to measure the angles

exactly the seams will be caulked later

on and that will fix any small

inaccuracies in the joints I find it

easier to hold the pieces in place and

mark where to cut align the laser on my

miter saw with that mark and then cut

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so I've got all the sides of the

melamine form cut to length and they're

all one in 3/4 inch high which minus the

3/4 inch size the melamine is going to

give us one inch thick counter tops all

that's left to do now is go around with

some drywall screws and hot glue and

assemble the form

I'm about to make a foam cutout that

will go into this main concrete form and

create this space where the concrete lid

will sit on top of the TV lift this

piece right here is actually the base of

the separate concrete form that I'm

gonna make for the lid I have to be very

careful and plan ahead to make sure that

when I pour the lid it's going to fit

inside but not be too loose within the

hole that I create in the main

countertop at this point I've left the

base piece for the lid at 1/8 inch

bigger than it needs to be in both

direction so by cutting the foam to the

exact same size I'm actually making the

bigger cutout that the lid will fit

inside and the melamine blade was still

on the saw and it left a really smooth

edge on the foam as well so I think I'm

gonna give you getting double duty from

this play a fine finish played like the

one I have on my miter saw here also

leaves really clean edges on the phone

link to both below I use two spacers cut

from scrap melamine to position the foam

parallel to the front edge of the form

and then hot glued the foam to the base

I trimmed 1/8 inch off of the base form

for the lid on both end and made sure

that it fits snugly inside the cutout I

was leaving for it in the main counter

top next it's time to seal the form with

caulk for those of you new to the

channel well where have you been all my

life and this is my go-to process for

getting perfect calls lines I apply a

layer of paste wax to the mellah lean

lay down a generous line of a hundred

percent silicone caulk and run a metal

fondant ball tool over all the caulk

lines the fondant tool pushes excess

caulk to the sides and leaves a clean

line over the seat and the paste wax we

laid down earlier makes it easy to peel

away the excess caulk once it cures

leaving a perfect caulk line

after the caulk is cured I applied two

layers of polycrylic to the foam my

thought was that the polycrylic would

make the foam easier to remove and seal

it and as you'll see later I think it

worked pretty well so I'm all set up for

the pore now and I want to show you two

things before we get going that I did

off-camera so first I cut this AR glass

scrim and this is a sort of sheet of

glass fiber that's made from the same

type of alkali resistant glass fibers

that goes in the GFR C but it's just a

whole sheet and since this piece is

going to be one inch thick and it's

going to be almost 7 feet long this is

going to add some flexural strength to

it that spans the whole length of the

countertop second I've made the form for

the lid the one interesting thing about

the lid is that I'm actually going to

embed some pieces of half-inch plywood

in the lid and that's gonna give me

something to screw into so that I can

attach a concrete lid to the TV lift so

in order to position those pieces of

half-inch plywood at the right spot at

the very top of the form so that are

going to be flush with the base of the

concrete just constructed these little

bridges from some scrap melamine so that

will hold it right at the top here

during the pour and then I can just

remove the screws when I'm done and

leave the half-inch plywood in the

concrete I also put a coat of poly

acrylic actually two coats onto the

half-inch plywood so that water doesn't

get into it from the concrete during the

pour

at this point I made a last-minute

design decision I decided to embed some

aluminum channels for LED strips in the

underside of the concrete so I cut those

channels to size now it's time to get

ready for the concrete spray and pour

for me this involves rearranging the

entire shop and then Dexter find it by

covering the whole thing in plastic I'll

be using a glass fiber reinforced

concrete mix or GF RC for short you

could also make this with any bagged

concrete mix however GF RC allowed me to

make the countertop thinner and lighter

cutting its weight in half

GF RC mix is naturally white but I

wanted to make a grey or almost black

countertop so I added the maximum amount

of black powder pigment that I could

without weakening the concrete to get a

cleaned surface on the counter I'm going

to be applying a face or Beauty coat to

the form first which doesn't have any

aggregate in it I first brush a thin

layer of the face coat into the corners

which prevents sand from being trapped

when I subsequently spray a thin coat on

the rest of the surface and that brings

us to the next step spraying the thin

Beauty coat with a hopper spray gun

the coat is sprayed at about 1/8 inch

thick with what essentially is a drywall

hopper modified to orient the sprayer at

45 degrees to the hopper so you can

spray more easily on horizontal surfaces

immediately after spraying each face

coat I use a chip brush to go over the

concrete and pop any bubbles that might

have been trapped against the form

during the spray this ensures the

smoothest possible surface right out of

the form

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it's not quite ready for the back coat

you can see it's still a little mushy

there's a risk that glass fibers will

push through so we're gonna wait another

say 30 minutes or so just for it to firm

up a bit more say test it again and it

was good to go before the back coat I

went back and removed some painters tape

I had covered the top edges of the form

with this was an experiment to try and

avoid the face coat going up and over

the sides as it typically does and the

resulting need to grind the concrete

level to the size after it cures I

forgot to put tape on the foam knock out

so I carefully used a trowel to scrape

the excess face coat off the top of the

foam it worked surprisingly well

although I still can't say that this

would be really a good idea to repeat if

you're making this then I mixed up the

backer coat which is the exact same GF

RC mixes the beauty coat except that

glass fibers are added and these are

special alkali resistant glass fibers

that don't break down in the alkalinity

of concrete like a normal glass fiber

would these glass fibers combined with a

polymer and a water reducing admixtures

an incredibly strong concrete likely

around 12,000 a 13,000 psi compared to

you say five or six thousand for a

standard concrete a hand packed the

first layer of the backer coat and then

placed the a hourglass scrim that I cut

earlier into the form I worked the AR

scrim into the back coat so it was just

slightly below the surface and then came

back with a second layer of the back

coat to fill up the form

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when the former's fall I came back with

the aluminum led channels and press them

into the concrete doing my best to get

them even with the sides of the form I

then turn my attention to the form for

the lid and I put a little bit of

concrete under the locations where the

plywood sheets would be inserted this

one's sure that there are no gaps

between the plywood in the concrete and

then filled up the rest of the form

around the plywood sheets and let

everything rest I tried another new

technique in this build

hand traveling the underside of the

concrete with a magnesium float we'll

definitely be doing this more often

since the underside came out much

cleaner and required less messy

post-processing like a lot of you I'm a

one-man show in the shop so I decided to

deem old and flip over this 180 pound

countertop and form myself

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flip went smoothly but those few seconds

you've danced around the table to catch

the counter on the other side are always

pretty nerve-wracking there are many

ways to post process precast concrete

pieces my go-to is wet sanding by hand

with 400 grit sandpaper since it is

quick and easy and leaves a nice smooth

finish for the sealer I decided to try a

two-part urethane after mixing Part A

and B you dilute the mix 5 to 1 with

water and roll on a primer coat the

diluted primer coat penetrates the

concrete more easily so you can get a

deeper and longer lasting finish you

then continue to roll on the sealer

increasing the strength to 3 to 1 C

litter water and finally use a full

strength sealer mix now I really like

the finish I got with this two-part

sealer but I'll have to see how it holds

up over time as compared to other

concrete pieces that I've finished with

a simple one part acrylic sealer and see

if the extra effort is worth it for the

two-part sealer now let's turn to the TV

lift cabinet itself I'm using a

motorized TV lift from TV lift cabinets

calm and specifications for the cabinet

come with the whip so I'm only going to

go through this at a fairly high level

since the cabinet carcass will be

completely hidden I built it from an

expensive radiata pine plywood and

pocket hole joinery pocket holes don't

always get a lot of love but for a

project like this using a pocket hole

jig makes the joinery fast and easy it's

really the perfect tool for the job

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installing the TV lift in the cabinet is

simple it comes preassembled so there

are only eight screws in total for the

install the first step is mounting the

lower support plate at the base of the

cabinet then you slide the CV lift

assembly into the support plate and use

the mounting hole in the lift to attach

the top of the lift to the cabinet the

TV lift control box also attaches easily

to the back of the cabinet with four

screws I also added a lid support to the

top of the lift which I'll attach the

concrete lid to the cabinet will be

covered by a removable front panel this

front panel will be entirely removable

from the cabinet so you can access the

TV lift if needed and will be held on by

magnets the rare-earth magnets I'm using

are square so I created square cutouts

in the back of the panel using a

Forstner bit and a chisel I bought

countersunk magnets which allowed me to

screw them right into the back of the

cover panel using screws I chose this

approach so the front panel will look

like part of the wall structure in my

room more so than it would if I used

doors to provide mounting points for the

magnets

I used an angle grinder to cut small

pieces of scrap steel I then used my

router to create cavities for the steel

pieces in front of the cabinet carcass

and inlay the steel pieces in the

cavities using some five-minute epoxy

you may have noticed that the front

panel is cut from OSP which might not be

the most obvious choice however as you

see here I'm covering the front panel

with some permanent peel-and-stick wood

planks since you won't see the

underlying wood used on the front panel

it was the perfect opportunity to make

use of some OSB that had been taking up

space in my shop for quite some time so

I'm about to finish putting this peel of

stick wood on here and with the VHB on

tape on there it holds pretty well but I

just had kind of had a change of heart

on it I think it's still a great project

for very beginning DIY folks kind of get

them over the initial hurdle but once

you're comfortable using a nail gun just

use a nail gun I also added some cable

management with a built in panel that

can plug in HDMI and USB cables from

outside of the cabinet this panel

installs in the standard cutout for a

light switch or other similar panels and

with that the cabinet was ready to take

upstairs for the installation I use my

hammer drill to pre-drill holes in the

brick wall for tapcon concrete screws

it's extremely important when using

concrete screws that you vacuum out the

holes before inserting the screws as

long as you vacuum these screws do a

great job of securing large pieces to

brick or country I enlisted the help of

my friend Griffin to move the countertop

into place for now I just have blocks of

scrap 4x4 that are resting on the brick

windowsill and combined with the cabinet

to support the countertop from below I

screwed the concrete lid into place and

then moved on to the trim now at the

corner where the wood meets I'm going to

be using an l-shaped aluminum channel

and I spray painted it black so it would

match the look of the room I attach the

aluminum trim using fuse it and I only

put the fuse it on the side of the trim

that would attach to the front panel so

that it wouldn't adhere to the side and

prevent the front panel from being

removed now I can install the LED strips

into the aluminum channels embedded in

the countertop I used the combination of

adhesive backing on the LED strips and

super glue to attach the LED strips to

the channel while I used basic RGB LED

strips for this project I did add a

little something extra by using an LED

controller that allows me to control the

strip's via Alexa Alexa turn the

countertop lights on Alexa set the

countertop lights to green so I had no

idea if this was really gonna work with

concrete since is definitely a lot

heavier even with GF RC than a wood top

but it works really well and I'm really

happy how it looks I think it really

completes the bedroom as always there

are a couple things that I would do

differently if I were to build this

again so I just want to go and in full

disclosure show you things that I'm not

100% happy with so the first thing and

probably the biggest thing is that

because I could only cast one piece of

the countertop on my flat work table I

catch the other one in the floor and I

thought that the foam that I put it on

would level it out but it kind of got a

little banana in the lid piece it'll be

a little tricky to color match but at

some point I may go and remake the lid

just to make sure it's perfectly flat

and doesn't have that little bit of

curve banana shape to it that just a lot

of people don't notice but I do the

second thing is I still haven't put trim

around the floorboards now I just hate

like standard white crown molding trim

so I always have really hard time

picking that out I'm not sure what I'm

gonna do but something different if you

got any ideas for the trim I'll leave a

comment below and let me know before

going further let's show a little love

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