New Counter Tops

 

 

 

Here I’m brushing on the primer. Just take the brush you’re given in the kit and brush it onto the counter.

This is how it looks when done. Notice I painted over the silver (thingy) where the counter meets the back wall.

Texture on primer

This is what it looks like after you take a brush and go over the top of the primer for texture. I just took the brush and dabbed it onto the primmer, kinda like a stipple effect (hope that makes sense).

The brush I used

Here I am adding the liquid wax onto the primer. I found that by adding the wax then taking a rag and dabbing it onto the wet wax in little sections worked better. You can see the back splash already finished.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the wax is applied, add the gloss to seal it. You can see the texture in the phone on top!

While I love the outcome of the counters, I ran into a few problems.

1. When I put the gloss onto the wax with the brush, it would smear. When you take the rag and make the design on the wax, by adding the gloss it would take that design and smear it. I figured out quick that if I used another flat brush (not the one they sent) and went in one direction, it wouldn’t smear as bad. I did wait for the wax to dry (4 days to be exact, still smeared). So that was lesson #1, lol.

2. The gloss is not water proof. I let it cure the amount of time requested on the can and was careful to put towels around the sink. I had 3 coats of gloss on and it still would leave white spots and under Mr. coffee machine there was some water that had been left for about 5 hours before I noticed it and it had taken it down to the wax and primer. I was bummed.

I ended up calling Heirloom Traditions and spoke with Paula. I guess it is not actually made for counters and she said that no product would withstand water for very long. Before I bought this kit, I had asked if I could clean it with 409 and if it would hold up to water and HT responded with a yes, so who knows. Paula did say that me and one other gal had this problem but no one else.

One other note, the kit cost $89, which isn’t bad, but because of the troubles I experienced, I had to buy more primer and more gloss because when it smeared and dried and gloss applied, I ended up sanding  it back down to the original counters and start over.

I ended up buying Min-wax clear polyurethane to seal the counter tops and so far it seems to be working.
So far I had to buy the kit for $89, extra primer and gloss $99 and the min-wax was $9. Still cheaper than buying new counters but very frustrating it didn’t work the first time.

Would I buy it again, yes, BUT I would only buy the primer and wax.