No Boards About It

When you think of concrete, do you think of it having a rustic look and feel? That's exactly what one homeowner wanted, and WSO Creative Concrete, Holtsville, N.Y., took on

Okay, so WSO Creative Concrete didn't actually change concrete into wood, but the company did create a concrete countertop that looked like stressed wood to go in the homeowner's rustic kitchen. WSO is a family-run business whose contractors specialize in concrete countertops. The decorative concrete company, a division of WSO Incorporated, has three employees - Tom Orenzow, Bill Orenzowand Nick Mastrianon - and was started six years ago after Bill Orenzow inherited an existing company.

Tom Orenzow, project manager for WSO Creative Concrete, says the three employees learned all their general concrete knowledge from doing foundations. Before branching into decorative concrete, the Orenzow brothers worked for a small concrete company that did flatwork and monument foundations at cemeteries. The brothers have been working together for 13 years and have 32 years of concrete experience between the two of them.

The experience they had working with foundations and flatwork helped them gain many of the skills they use in creating concrete countertops, according to Orenzow. "That's been pretty much our bread and butter to do all of our experimentation and learn all the new techniques that are going on in the concrete industry," he says.

Orenzow says over the past five years the WSO employees have been traveling, learning new techniques and earning certifications. Those certifications included several from the Concrete Countertop Institute and one from the American Concrete Institute showing they are certified flatwork technicians. Even though WSO's employees have a lot of experience in many aspects of construction, they decided they wanted to focus all of those skills on one trade.

After starting out in stamped flatwork, they moved to vertical concrete and gradually came to specialize in poured-in-place concrete countertops, Orenzow says. "We love framing, and we love the challenges of each piece being one of a kind," he continues. "We are always trying to do unique applications, unique projects."

In September of this year, WSO got the opportunity to work on a unique project they had never done before: creating a concrete countertop that looks like wood. The job was done for a homeowner in Middle Island, N.Y., who wanted a rustic kitchen, according to Orenzow. A concrete countertop was a good choice for the homeowner because it could accomplish the same thing as a wood countertop but at a lower price with better durability. "We had never done a wood countertop out of concrete before, but we were willing to give it a shot because we liked the challenge," Orenzow says.

The typical countertop WSO creates usually is a solid countertop with a hand-troweled finish for a smooth look. This project was going to be the exact opposite for the company It was the first time they were creating a countertop that wasn't solid throughout.

Orenzow says they decided to use a product they were familiar with for this project: FossilCrete. Although they had used FossilCrete before, it was the first time WSO was going to use it on a countertop. He says they chose the vertical concrete system because of its versatility. "We knew we could get great texturing out of it, and we could carve and manipulate it very well," he explains.

The process for creating the countertop included setting up the mold and frame work; pouring, finishing and texturing the countertop; letting it cure; and staining and sealing it. In all, Orenzow says it took five trips to the jobsite to complete.

The first step WSO needed to do in the countertop project was create a solid substrate for the FossilCrete. To do this they used a ½-in. plywood decking with a ½-in. concrete board on top of it. Then they attached wire lathe over the entire frame.

The next step was adding the concrete. Orenzow says they added a thin structure coat of the FossilCrete material first. After about an hour of curing, Orenzow says they then applied a ½-in. thick texture coat. The texture coat was leveled out with trowels and then stamped with texturing mats of stressed wood grain textures. "We tried to make it one solid plank effect so there were no divisions," Orenzow says. After the countertop was stamped and textured but still in a plastic state Orenzow says they used clay sculpting tools to carve little details into the countertop and clean up its look.

WSO gave the countertop a few days to harden and then came back to stain it. For staining, they used a Kerniko ebony acid stain. Orenzow says they had to watch the staining process closely because the ebony stain goes through several degrees of brown before it reaches its ebony color. "Once we got the look that we wanted we neutralized it with ammonia and water to stop the reaction," Orenzow says. "We had the color we wanted (a deep cherry wood) with the variations. It didn't look like one monochromatic piece. It had its highlights and its darks. It looked very authentic."

The stained slab was then allowed another day to cure out before WSO came back to apply theV-seal, which was done in a twostage process. The first coat, an epoxy, was applied then allowed to cure. Orenzow says he is usually comfortable allowing the seal 12 hours to cure. The second coat, a Polyurethane, was then applied to finish up the V-seal process.

Aside from having to create a decorative countertop it had never done before, the biggest challenge for WSO on this project was the interior edge of the farm sink, according to Orenzow. They had to shape and texture it to keep the wood grain pattern flowing. "It was probably the most difficult part," Orenzow says. "And how we overcame it was patience and a soft touch." He says they just had to find a way to get it done.

"Turning imagination into creation" isWSO's slogan, and Orenzow thinks this project is a great example of that. WSO Creative Concrete's wood concrete countertop made the horneowner's idea a reality and added another unique project to the company's resume.

And WSO has proof people are taking notice of its work. The company has participated in two shows on HGTV. The biggest benefit of the television exposure and working on unique projects is it gets the company recognition, Orenzow says. "We are always experimenting trying to expand our business. We have a solid business, but we want to keep growing," he adds.