Kitchen: Counter Tops – Steps 9 – 13 – Topcoat, Topcoat and more Topcoat
Applying the topcoat seemed easy, in theory. The topcoat is a milky white substance that comes in a bottle. You simply squirt it on the surface of the counter and then smooth it over evenly.
The Modern Masters instructions say to use an application cloth/pad like you would to finish a wood floor (I would assume to avoid things like lint, etc)… but we weren’t able to find anything like that at Lowes, Home Depot or Menards. What we did find was a foam paint applicator – it seemed like a good solution as it wasn’t too spongy and didn’t result in leaving lint behind.
We waited the eight hours between the final color coat and applying the top coat as instructed. We waited 1 hours between each coat of topcoat to apply the next.
The topcoat gave the counters a lovely and unexpected conditioned leather look. In the finished kitchen photos (to be posted in a later blog, we will try to capture this).
The topcoat, however, does bring out any flaws you see. it adds a sheen (though not shiny) that really makes a nice diffused light glow.
Also to note, when you apply the topcoat, don’t go too heavy. The topcoat is supposed to dry clear, but if you use too much, or have pooling at your seams, you will have white areas. You can try to remove these with a warm hairdryer – but if that doesn’t work you will have to lightly sand the white areas and re-apply a few coats of topcoat thinly to get rid of the white look.
So here it is, a step through of the final coats of topcoat.
Click any image for a larger view…
After first coat of topcoat:
After second coat of topcoat (you can see here the uneven surface on the edge because of the 2nd bonding primer coat not being smooth):
After third coat of topcoat:
After the fourth coat of topcoat…
