November 30th, 2023 (ish) will be one year of construction on my Ostuni townhouse. I wish I could say we were any closer to completion. Lol As you know, the saying in Italy ‘ Piano, Piano’ [ take it slow] is taken to heart in the south… maybe a little too much. All it makes me say is ‘ che cazzo’🤌…
What I can say positively is that the extra time has allowed me to be creative. I saved three doors from the townhouse that I wanted to restore and use again. I wanted to keep old parts of my home to incorporate during my renovation.
At first the doors were going back in the home as actual doors. Then I decided that we needed new doors. That is when creating tables came to my mind. I started the idea with Apples Free form app. Truly, I think it’s amazing for what I design. It allows me to collaborate with anyone I share my designs with to modify as they see fit. If you are a creative person, give it a try! This has become one of my ‘go to’ apps for digital drawing.
Using free form, I started with the idea of ‘unloading’ my brain. Drawing and searching for images that compliment my need.
Here is my Free Form sketch and ideas for this table:
**I dont explain all my cuts in this blog or the tools used as you can build this project with different tools. The cuts are all in the Free Form image above. Comment or message if you have questions**
As you will notice I needed to adjust the imperial measurements to metric. I have also never purchased a 4×4 in Europe before… Can someone please explain to me why a 4×4 [which converts properly to a 10×10 cm beam] is actually called a 9×9? Like, how was I supposed to know that. 😂 It makes asking questions in a foreign language even more difficult when you have no idea what you are asking for. 🤦🏼♂️ On another note, the 9x9cm appears to be the exact dimensions. Let’s note also that a 4×4 in the US is not actually 4 inches wide. Maybe my answer is self explanatory but I wouldn’t have guessed this. 🤷
After some ‘extensive’ research I found the lumber I needed. Luckily my step-mother was visiting Italy and she assisted in the fabrication of the legs and middle support beam. She taught me how to build these legs which is really freaking cool… because I was going to pay someone on Etsy about €240 to make and send them to me. I ended up making my legs for €30 (not including the saw but let’s not talk about the tools. 😅)
After the first set of legs were complete, I settled in to the fact that I would need a miter saw… so off to Leroy Merlin I went. I ended up buying a 25cm (10”) sliding miter saw by Scheppach. It works amazingly well for my hobby furniture building. I used this miter saw to complete leg set two.
After the test was complete and the legs were the proper height and fit, my step-mother and I started stripping the door. This was a tedious task but fairly straight forward. Between a combination of paint stripper, elbow grease and a good sander with 80 grit paper we were able to get the doors down to raw wood in about a day.
About half way through my mother kept stripping and I started with testing the cement material to fill the door. As I needed to put something in the door squares to make the door function as a smooth table top. At first I was going to use resin but as I thought through this, it just didn’t give the table the look I wanted. This is when I started googling cement door tables and found this blog on how to create your own cement door table.
Living in Italy we do not have access to the same material as US DIY’ers but I took the information and headed back to Leroy Merlin. (During the project I think I went to this store a good 20 times. 🤦🏼♂️… )
I needed to test different types of cement to figure out what worked best in my design. In the photo above to the right, you can see my test (and labeled below).We waited about 48 hours to do a light sanding.
For future reference – I think you should wait a minimum of 5 days to sand. The texture of all the cement changed during this time for me.
Cemento mortar – It held to the wood decently. Not the best texture sadly. Over all the product has more sand in its mix which created a more crumbly finish. It could not be sanded smooth and any attempt to sand more just caused more issues.
Rapido cemento – As its name implies, this cement dried very fast. It did not hold in the wood frame. In fact it slightly pulled away from the edges. This product could have worked but it dried to quickly for me. I could not mix, level, and remove all the air bubbles in the 15 min dry time. Especially in the 34 degree weather this was poured in. Though it was the same temperature for all the tests.
Portland cemento – This product was the best finish hands down. The problem with this product is that it did not bond to the wood at all! After the cement dried you could flip the door upside down and the cement would have popped out like it was in a mold. In some cases this would be perfect but not when I wanted it to bond to the door.
***Resina cemento*** This cement was a test that occurred later. I poured this test once this outdoor table was finished. In a separate blog I will talk about Resin cement. This product ended up being the best overall product and what I will use for future tables.***
With the tests above I determined that Portland cement gave us the best texture but was the worst at adhering to the wood. To correct this I took screws and drilled them through the back of the door (Same as in the blog I noted above). At first I thought this was a step I could skip. If you want to create this table yourself, DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP. It is crucial! The screws created an anchor point for the cement. Basically creating something for the cement to grip to.
Sadly I do not have a photo of the screws but trust me, they are there.
As you will notice the cement had minor cracks after drying. To repair this I took Portland cement powder and created a paste. Similar to toothpaste consistency and worked it in to the cracks.
After waiting about 3 days for the repair to dry, I sanded the entire table again with 120 grit sand paper. Cleaned it and sanded again with 240 grit. After cleaning all the dust for a final time, I sealed the door with a Matte exterior varnish called LAQUER by Hemway.
** to note: the table is missing side trim that will not be installed until the table is in its permanent location in Ostuni, Italy. I need the tabletop and legs to separate so the table can fit up the narrow staircase of the home.**
In conclusion, after building this table, I recommend having a helper with you. Between the stripping of the paint, cutting large pieces of wood, and of course mixing/preparing/ leveling of the cement after it is poured – it just requires a lot of manual labor and some items are time sensitive. For example the cement. Once it is poured you must vibrate and/or pound the table top with a rubber mallet to force all the air bubbles to the service of the cement. This takes time and the cement may not dry quickly but it dries quick enough on the top to prevent the bubbles from escaping, if you take your time. I have also seen some cement poured where the spray a light mist over the cement as it dries so it does not dry too quickly. When creating this table, your cement is to thin to account for the extra water here. I tried it. I do not recommend it but I am also not a cement expert… If you like this table, I would highly recommend giving it a try. I think this is more of a ‘two weekend’ project if you devote 100% of your time. If you are like me and just enjoy building in your spare time, it could take 3-4 weekends.
Best of luck in your construction projects!