Is There Any Way You'd Make A Wood Countertop For A Bathroom?

[Julie Moriarty]

Julie - I am no kinda sailor. Having said that, I can sand and refresh varnished surfaces.

My point? You need a crew member dedicated to varnish maintenance on your trip, you let me know. I'll crew for you if that is my only task.

Will bring my own set of top-end varnish brushes, and my fishing rods.

And your fish cleaning tools, recipes and cooking skills too. I'll be in the cockpit pouring the rum

[scott vroom]

Captain Julie reading cabin boy Kent the riot act...again.

[Kent A Bathurst]

And your fish cleaning tools, recipes and cooking skills too. I'll be in the cockpit pouring the rum

We gots a deal, Julie - we gots a deal. I can clean 'em and I can cook 'em and I can drink rum.

Anchors aweigh.

[Keith Pleas]

BTW- after a couple of coats of Waterlox applied directly to a wood surface I doubt it is providing any additional "penetration", but I don't know for sure.

This has been driving me nuts. I put a couple of coats of WS 105/207 on a piece of African teak, sanded off the epoxy gloss, and applied some Seafin. Results - it just wipes off, no difference at all.

So then I looked into Waterlox - and I'll bet you're using their "Original Sealer Finish". So I just drove down to Woodcraft (the only place in Seattle that has it - and they're 15 minutes from my house AND open on Sunday!) and wiped on a couple of quick coats.

What's really confusing (to me) is that Waterlox says they're a "tung oil" finish, but they sure don't contain much tung oil - their MSDS states that it's "Stoddard Solvent 8052-41-3 73.77% weight", and that's a petroleum distillate. Tung oil, phenolic resin, and ester gum, and are "among the top five components". So they also say "We view our Waterlox Original Tung oil finishes as varnishes ". And I now see that varnish over epoxy is a well-known technique.

It definitely looks better than epoxy - but it still looks like the wood is encapsulated in...something...varnishy I guess. My wife has OKed this for the shower shelf, but she wants the rest of the teak in the bathroom to have the tung oil finish (though we don't expect to have standing water anywhere else).

[Jim Becker]

Once a finish formula's ingredients are mixed and cooked, they turn into a singular product...varnish. Using even a little Tung Oil in the recipe means they can mention it in their marketing.

As to penetration...anything that cures makes for only the first coat to penetrate into the wood.

[Julie Moriarty]

We ended up going the granite top route. We went to the "granite store" where they had slabs on display and picked out two different types for the two bathrooms. I don't think any kind of wood would have worked as well, as far as tying in what was already there (and weren't going to replace).

My plan was going to be framing the mirrors with African mahogany and making the pieces on the bottom of the mirror go all the way to the top of the granite. The wood wouldn't be exposed to the same abuse as a top would but there is still the issue of water left sitting at the stone-wood joint. Hopefully caulk would take care of that, as long as it doesn't shrink.

I made up some trim pieces for the mirror trim


Those boards are 3" wide. I have two boards that are 5" wide for the bottom. But when I measured for the bottom, the old tops were still on and I thought the granite was going to be 1-1/2" thick. They were actually 1-1/4" thick and now the bottom boards don't work because I cut it so close. So I picked up some more wood today and plann on making wider bottom boards. Problem is, in my visualization of it, I wondered if the bottom boards being 5-1/2" or 6" wide might look off.

On the way back from the hardwood store, I stopped at HD to pick up some plumbing parts. While there I made a walk through the tile aisle and saw something that I could use for the bottom 2-3", that would blend well and then I could make the trim around the mirror the same width all the way around. It's glass and aluminum tile that can be made into 3" widths. The glass is silver & grey and the aluminum is brushed.



In the lower left corner of the mirror the silver is separating and turning black. The trim would cover that up. I still have to glue the side panels (1/4" mahogany ply) in place and do something about the base of the cabinets. I'm not sure if I should use the 1/4" ply or paint the base black. I'm also thinking of replacing the oak baseboard with AM, if I have enough left.

It never ends...

[Kent A Bathurst]

.......... framing the mirrors with African mahogany and making the pieces on the bottom of the mirror go all the way to the top of the granite. The wood wouldn't be exposed to the same abuse as a top would but there is still the issue of water left sitting at the stone-wood joint. Hopefully caulk would take care of that, as long as it doesn't shrink.

I would rethink that, Julie. Mother Nature wants that to fail.

Hows about a short [2" +/-] granite backsplash, with the mirror frame sitting on top of that? That would be as close to bullet-proof as you can get.

[Larry Edgerton]

I would rethink that, Julie. Mother Nature wants that to fail.

Hows about a short [2" +/-] granite backsplash, with the mirror frame sitting on top of that? That would be as close to bullet-proof as you can get.

Hey Kent!

I have a Makore vanity top glued up for my bath, I'll send you a picture when its done and one every year to prove it can be done!

[Mel Fulks]

More bad news ...I sometimes find pieces of granite that are CRUMBLING ....but they could be old ,they've been making it
a long time. Nice job of straightening that infernal African " mahogany".

[Kent A Bathurst]

Hey Kent!

I have a Makore vanity top glued up for my bath, I'll send you a picture when its done and one every year to prove it can be done!

Good for you, Larry. Looking forward to the photos.

In the meantime, just out of curiosity - - on which salt-water seas will your bathroom be sailing?

[Julie Moriarty]

We went back to HD but first visited a tile store right next door to see what they had. Nothing there worked. So we bought some glass tile at HD and will trim it to whatever width works to allow for at least 3" of tile under the mirror frame. The 2nd bathroom has more room under the mirror so we may end up going 4" on the tile there.



The backsplash tile for the master bath worked perfectly. The 2nd bath required us to compromise. We figured it would blend well with the wood frame and fairly well with the granite top but just okay with the plumbing fixtures.

The only thing yet to be determined is how to finish the ends of the tile. The aluminum strips in the first picture are U shaped so there's a void left at the crosscut section. I was thinking of using strips of tile to cap the ends but if that didn't work, I'll have to use wood.

[Julie Moriarty]

One thing I forgot to mention was this will be my first try at cutting glass tile. A neighbor had me over to give an estimate for installing under-cabinet lighting in her kitchen. She just had glass tile installed and said there was glass chips everywhere. I bought a 7" glass tile blade for the wet saw and I'm hoping that will solve the issues of chipping. Fingers crossed.

[Larry Edgerton]

Let me know how the glass tile cutting goes Julie if you will. I have a nice Pearl wet saw, but I have never cut glass tile either and that is what Laura wants in the bath above the wood countertop.

Thanks, Larry

[Larry Edgerton]

Good for you, Larry. Looking forward to the photos.

In the meantime, just out of curiosity - - on which salt-water seas will your bathroom be sailing?

No salt water for me! If I fall overboard in the Great Lakes all I have to worry about is hypothermia.

[Rodger Kanis]

No salt water for me! If I fall overboard in the Great Lakes all I have to worry about is hypothermia.

Or, if you fell right now, a concussion. There's a lot of ice coverage right, depending on which one you fall "into".