Concrete Countertops in North Charleston, SC

For a concrete top in a North Charleston kitchen, we always start with a tape measure on your cabinets, so every concrete top we make is sized to your room and not to a stock slab.

Shop-cast or poured on site

We can cast your top in a shop and bring it in finished, or form it and pour it right on your cabinets. We'll talk through which way suits your kitchen when we come out to measure, since a tight galley and an open island are very different jobs.

We fit concrete on a kitchen counter, across a big island, or on a bathroom vanity top. We can also do just the island in concrete and pick another surface for the rest.

The recipe in a concrete top

Concrete is a mix of four plain things, per the Federal Highway Administration: crushed stone or gravel, sand, portland cement and water. When the cement meets the water, the two react and form a hard paste, and that paste glues the stone and sand together.

Most of the weight is stone and sand. The FHWA puts them at about 80 to 85 percent of the mix by mass, with portland cement at around 15 percent by weight. Mixers can also stir in an admixture, which the FHWA describes as any extra material, beyond the cement, water, stone and sand, that is added to change how the concrete behaves fresh or once it's hard.

The first days after the pour

Portland cement hardens by reacting with water until it turns into a stonelike mass, the FHWA says. That's why the water in a new top matters so much.

In an FHWA guide on curing, the agency explains that if water leaves the surface faster than it can rise back up, the top layer dries out and shrinks. At that age the concrete has very little strength to pull against, so small cracks can open easily. We keep a fresh top from drying out too quickly while it cures.

Plumbing permits in North Charleston

Moving a sink means plumbing work, and the City of North Charleston runs a plumbing permit for that. The city is clear that no work can start until the permit is issued.

To apply, the city wants a proposal or contract that lays out the scope of work, with the cost of materials and labor. If your plans reach the sewer line, the city says you'll need an extra permit from the sewer district as well. When we measure, we'll tell you if your layout changes any of this.

Keeping the dust down

OSHA says concrete holds crystalline silica, and that cutting, sawing, grinding or drilling it throws off particles at least 100 times smaller than ordinary sand. NIOSH, which sits inside the CDC, says breathing that silica causes silicosis, a lung disease that can't be undone.

Ask any installer where the cutting and grinding on your top will happen, and what they do to control the dust.

How we price a concrete top

We give you a written price after we've measured your space. What moves that price is how many square feet we cover, the color and finish, the edge shape, and how many cutouts we make for a sink or cooktop.

Want to compare? We'll price other surfaces side by side, including quartz, granite, quartzite, marble, soapstone, solid surface and butcher block.

Before you sign

Whoever does the job, get these on paper:

• Shop-cast or poured on site.
• The thickness, color and finish.
• A layout sketch showing seams, the sink cutout and the cooktop cutout.
• The edge profile.
• The sealer brand that goes on.
• Whether tearing out and hauling off the old tops is included.
• Who unhooks and rehooks the faucet, sink and cooktop.

Questions about concrete countertops in North Charleston

Ask for a concrete countertop quote

Give us a call or fill in the quote form with your ZIP code and which rooms you're redoing. We'll come out, measure, walk you through colors and edges, and send a written quote. You can see every surface we fit from the North Charleston Countertops home page.