NOVA Pros

Has anyone heard of this practice of recycling glass bottles and using the broken pieces in a concrete countertop?

I looked online, and it looks really good, but just wondering if anyone has used this and how the price compares to granite, marble, or even formica.

Thanks for any info,
NOVA Pros

TxBuilder

Got any pictures of the finished product? Sounds interesting.

ciera

This is the company website. Has a very pretty look, and they claim similar properties to granite. Anyone know how it compares in cost?

Countertops from recycled glass - eco-friendly alternative to granite and marble for kitchen & bathroom counters or tiles, for green building or remodeling

(Ok, that is annoying, I typed in the url, and it added all that text above)

NOVA Pros

Here are a few pictures and type in Icestone into a search engine and you can find some samples.

Carter

Great for countertops, sidewalks, slabs, stepping stones!

I have been actively producing this material in the Richmond area for three years and have helped many customers reuse glass in a beautiful way.

Poured into forms, the material is allowed to cure, then we grind and polish the surface to get a terrazzo like finish. It's beautiful! Customers can select size and color of the glass aggregate as well as different tints for the cement.

Nestor_Kelebay

I have a question:

I'm wondering if you have to get the hardness of the cement the glass is embedded in similar to the hardness of the glass in order to be able to polish such a counter top to a smooth surface.

I'm thinking that if the glass were appreciably harder than the cement, your polishing would remove more cement than glass, and the glass pieces would tend to stick out proud of the surface, thereby making it "non-smooth".

Is my understanding right that the glass and cement have to be of similar hardness to be able to polish these counter tops smooth?

yesitsconcrete

you're polish conc & glass,,, the pads're thick enough so no digging UNLESS the operator's a complete jerk from what i recall, washing the glass's extremely important,,, nova may remember harry's post from this place - Find Decorative Concrete Contractors, Decorative Concrete Information

kwmainer

lots of folks use this in so. florida. So. florida used to be the queen of terrazo, and so this product is used by those who appreciate that look/feel. I have a terrazo floor in the downstairs, and it's prob. the absolute best flooring for wear and tear. However, you have to seal it a lot, depending on the use and if you use the wrong chemicals to clean it. It will also stain, like concrete, if the finish is worn off and you DON'T do something. lol. Been there... never mind!

I would imagine that such counters, while hard, smooth, impervious to heat, etc. ... could have the finish worn off of them similarly. The good thing is that it's a solid surface material. So I'm assuming one can repolish, buff out, bleach and reseal as needed. Not a pleasantly easy process, but by far better than having to replace the counter.

My sis has Corian, expensive stuff. The first week she got it - she set a hot pot on the surface and it scorched. No way to fix it other than re-ordering a new custom piece and replacing it. Coran is all expense, no longevity.

Sounds like this stuff is way better... from a practical standpoint.

Thoughts?