I’m building counter-tops for the laundry room by gluing up 2x6s. This is inexpensive material that I can finish into a beautiful wood countertop.
DIY Wood Countertops
I cut the edges off each 2×6 so they all had sharp edges. I don’t want these rounded –beveled edges on my countertop.
This process involves a LOT of glue!
And then a whole bunch of clamps.
I’m glueing up 2 at a time, then glueing up those pairs. I don’t want to try to keep track of all the boards in one glue up.
Check out some of my other countertop ideas:
Sandra says
I attach the countertop by driving screws up through -washers and oversized holes in the top cleat in the cabinet. The washers and large holes in the cabinet cleats allow movement in the wood countertop.
Ash says
How did you attach the wood top to the cabinets in the kitchen? We’re literally installing ours now and I’m so worried about how to attach it and let it still move!
Nick says
Next time go to a better lumber yard. Get kiln dried sort through a pile and you should be able to find a few close to vertical grain boards. Also, try to be a little cleaner with the glue. It is ok on a natural finish but if you ever find yourself wanting to stain it, it can be problematic. Or next time, you can get poplar for about 2 bucks a boardfoot. So about $4.50 for a foot of counter, not bad for pricing. Avoid the hype on finish and to a conversion varnish, shellac, laquer. Unless you are finishing a $2000 piece of wood epoxy is just overpriced and too much work.
Sandra says
You mean create a wood plank wall? You would definitely not want to use 2×4’s for that as it would be way to heavy and too thick. I use 3/4″ thick material max on plank walls and don’t glue it together. It expands and contracts a lot from season to season. For my countertop, I did not add any screws. The wood glue literally melds the wood together — it becomes one large piece of wood. Wood glue is generally stronger than fasteners.
Sandra says
You can add powdered stain to glue but if you stain a piece with glue on it the glue will not accept the stain at all so you will most likely have irregularities. Best to scrape it after it dries and remove all residue.