Thanks for all the warm messages about Teddy’s arrival last week. We’re home now and finding our rhythm as parents to a newborn again (if anyone has tips for getting a baby to sleep between 10pm and 4am, we’re all ears). We’ll be keeping a lighter schedule for a bit, but one task we hurried to finish about 48 hours before Teddy was born was finally sealing our kitchen’s Ardex concrete counters.
We’ve published a few other “how to seal” guides (for de-hazing and sealing tile, sealing grout, and sealing cork), so here’s the process we used to protect our Ardex counters and what worked for us.
After reading many “this step could make or break it” posts about Ardex, we resisted rushing into anything. We used a lot of the helpful comments from our March 24th post to narrow down sealers to research and track down (one even had to be ordered online). Ultimately we chose two coats of 511 Impregnator Sealer applied first, followed by three coats of Safecoat Acrylacq as a topcoat. The Impregnator seals the concrete against staining and moisture absorption, while the Acrylacq gives a protective, food-safe finish.
The Impregnator was very easy to apply thanks to its thin, water-like consistency. I poured a little into a bowl and brushed it liberally onto the clean concrete surface. The directions suggested wiping off excess after a few minutes, and although most of what I applied absorbed quickly, I wiped the surface as instructed. During application the counter looked darker and a bit blotchy, but once the sealer soaked in and dried it returned close to its original color.
We applied two coats of the Impregnator, spacing them 24 hours apart, and then waited another 24 hours after the final coat before starting the Acrylacq topcoat. Using Safecoat Acrylacq in a kitchen is appealing because it’s non-toxic and food-safe. As a topcoat it causes liquids to bead instead of soaking in, protects against staining and moisture, and provides a finished, polished look that resists chipping and scratching.
I applied the Acrylacq by pouring a small puddle onto the countertop and spreading it thinly with a brush. It has a faint blue-ish tint while wet, which we’ve gotten used to from other projects, but that fades as it dries. We applied three coats total, allowing around 12 hours of drying time between coats, and then let the finished surface cure for three full days before placing anything on it, even though it felt dry to the touch sooner.
The Acrylacq we used was a satin finish, but it noticeably increased the gloss compared with the chalky mate finish the raw Ardex left. That glossier look makes the counters feel more like a stone surface and less like a DIY concrete job, which we appreciated. The sheen also helps hide wear and makes spills much easier to clean—liquids bead up and wipe away without leaving dark rings or stains.
We’d read that some sealers can show scratches easily, but so far we haven’t seen any new marks even after cooking large family meals and sliding heavy dishes across the surface. This combination of Impregnator plus Acrylacq seems to deliver a food-safe, stone-like finish that resists staining and appears reasonably scratch-resistant—at least in the short run.
The only downside is that the glossier surface makes small imperfections in the countertop more visible, especially areas where I might have sanded less smoothly during the Ardex application. Sherry is more forgiving and thinks the tiny flaws belong with a concrete counter’s character; I tend to notice spots I could have smoothed more. Either way, we’re thrilled to have the counters back in use and it’s a huge improvement over the old yellow laminate that used to be there.
Note: A few people asked if we’ll paint the lower cabinets now that the counters are finished. It’s an option, but for now we’re more focused on the faux brick linoleum flooring, which is at the top of our to-do list.
There are still a few techniques I want to refine in future Ardex projects—mainly sanding a bit more evenly—but overall I’m very pleased with how the counters turned out. The sealing step especially made the surface feel much more finished and durable.
Other than a handful of meals with family in town to meet the new baby, we haven’t put the kitchen under heavy use yet, so we’ll report back on long-term wear. Whether stains eventually show through or scratches appear, or the finish holds up like new, we’ll share updates and photos after a few months.
UPDATE: We shared how the counters are holding up in a later post.
Has anyone else used this combination of sealers or had success with another approach? Please share your experiences—good or bad—so others tackling this project can learn from them. In the meantime, here’s a photo comparison several of you requested: Teddy at four days old, and Clara at about three weeks in a similar pose. They share the same long fingers and toes, faint blonde eyebrows, and tiny chins—though Clara had much less hair. In person they look related but not like twins.
And seriously, if you have any tips for getting a newborn to sleep between 10pm and 4am, send them our way.