Preparation of Surfaces

In building, the preparation of surfaces covers a large range of activities from the ground up.  

Here I am making bench tops from 6m sheets of laminated finger jointed planks originally intended for solid core doors. 

Firstly the planks had to be cut to size, 600mm wide and a verity of lengths. As the bench was to wrap the room mitres also had to be cut, and biskit jointed. (note correct P.P.E eye & ear protection, hi vis ect) 

Once the planks cut to size and shape I ran the router along the front face edge to give it a rounded edge, and ran an aris of the bottom edge.(note P.P.E)

Next I fitted the new bench tops to the cabinet carcases and then patched any holes or dents with a pine filler.

Once the filler had gone off I began sanding the benches, first with a 120 grade sand paper,then with 180 grade sand paper , and finally buy hand.(note P.P.E ear & Breathing protection) 

The next task was to clean of benches of any dust, I did this by brushing them off then wiping them down with a damp cloth.

Now time for the varnish. On the advice from the local paint shop I used floor varnish as this would give the bench tops a harder surface, before i used the product I studied the MSDS.

I then applied the product using a small roller and paint brush.(note P.P.E breathing protection)

Once the first coat was on and dry, the benches were again sanded back with 180 grade sand paper and coated again, dried and coated for a third time. Finished.