Kitchen counters

Decided on white cement with granite chips for the counters. Here's the construction process after building the support walls.

Fill the major portion with normal cement and then cover with the white cement and granite chips (granito). I chose size number 2 for the granite size but larger might have been more interesting. Next comes a lot of sanding with a grinder followed by hand sanding with wet/dry sandpaper.

Filled with cement

White cement and granite mix

Counters after some sanding

Also did a little house painting while they worked on the kitchen

Redesigning the Stairs

The stairs were unfinished and I knew we'd get around to it someday. The cement block is porous and has been letting water seep into the bathroom below. What I wasn't expecting was for my maestro to figure out a way to rebuild the stairs giving them a proper "run" (step space) compared to the very narrow original steps. He added the extra couple inches to each step by adding an angled step on what used to be the bottom platform.

To add a bullnose to each step he cuts a 2" tube in half and nails it to the step form. For a non-slip surface we used 'granito' (granite chunks) in the cement and then wash away enough cement to expose the chucks.

The old stairs

Rebuilding begins

Plastic tube cut in half for 'bullnose'

Finished stairs

The added step on the bottom