To cover vanity top with copper - what guage?

[Aaron Fude]

Hi,

What gauge of copper would be sufficient to cover a vanity top. I've heard opinions anywhere from 14 to 20. What's your opinion?

Thanks!

Aaron

[Joe]

A copper counter top is a bit of foolish impracticality. It's soft, easily marred, corrodes in contact with common bath products and will look like junk in a few months of use. Rather than choosing something totally unsuitable for the application, if you just want the look without the stress, try a copper paint on a harder substrate. Maybe talk to a plating shop about heavy copper plating on a steel backing. HTH

Joe

[<h>]

Agreed. A friend had copper countertops installed in her kitchen, and they looked merely "ok" for the first two months and really dreadful for the next six years until she had enough money to replace them. A complete waste and misuse of copper, and a horrendously expensive mistake, and that was 20 years ago when copper was "cheap" compated to today&#39;s prices. DON&#39;T DO IT!!!

[Jeff]

Before replacing our kitchen counter top we tried Tremclad Hammer Finish Rust paint, we first tried gold which actually looked green and didn&#39;t like it. Tried the copper colour and WOW! looks very sharp.

We used Hamerite rust paint on a bathroom counter when we first moved in 11 years ago. Held up very well, and due to the nature of the finish touched up very well after about 8 years. It has a silicone formulation that makes it very hard. I couldn&#39;t find Hamerite this time around but the Tremclad seems to be the same, perhaps they bought out Hamerite?

Anyway for the price of a pint of the stuff you might want to give it try, you&#39;ll be amazed how much like a real metal finish it will look like but will hold up much better over time.

[Aaron Fude]

I&#39;m interested in hearing more about copper counter tops being a bad idea.

We&#39;ve had a hammered copper sink for years and it looks great. Perhaps I failed to specify that we are (were?) planning to use copper that already has a distressed antique look, like this:

Does that change things?

Aaron

[<h>]

Ah, I see. My friend installed shiny pot-bottom copper on her kitchen countertops, and they looked like crap nearly immediately. They were impossible to keep clean and they stained and scratched easily. Your picture looks nothing like my friend&#39;s kitchen.