Glass Fibre Reinforced Concrete (GRC) replaces steel reinforcing with glass fibre and is a composite material made of Cement, Sand, Glass fibre and various admixtures (e.g. plasticisers, polymers, oxides etc) plus water.

No, there is no difference. Commonly referred to as GRC in the United Kingdom and GFRC in the United States both refer to the same material.

With GRC you can easily make products that are unique and highly personalised. Large or small, curved or straight, textured or smooth, vibrantly coloured or plain, perforated or solid – The possibilities are endless! GRC is;

• Durable: GRC can be used indoors or outside to make bench tops, furniture, splash backs, vanity tops, sinks, shower bases, fireplaces, tables, desks, baths and more!

• Strong, thin and lightweight – The glass fibre reinforcing means you can make GRC products with wall sections as thin as 12mm!

• Practical: When sealed properly GRC is extremely stain-resistant and low-maintenance.

GRC is very competitive compared with natural stone or other hard surfaces, for example a standard GRC premix can cost as little as $300-400 p/m2 including all the materials and formwork needed to make it yourself, compared with a quartz or granite equivalent which may range from $1000 to well over $1,500 per square metre just for the materials.

We typically send orders out the next working day and can take between 1-3 days to ship within NZ.

When it comes to GRC, there are two basic processes: ‘wet cast’ or ‘spray up’. Wet cast is the most popular for beginners as you need very few tools other than a bucket and a paddle mixer to get started, however it is also used extensively by professionals for the convenience and consistency. Wet casting is also used to make cast-in-place (insitu) benchtops directly on kitchen cabinets “face up”. While this avoids the hassle of transporting and installation, it is a messy process and gives fewer options and less control over the finished product. Precast GRC, on the other hand, moves all of the processes off site into a controlled environment like your garage or workshop. You can take your time building moulds and closely monitor the curing process which is critical!

In order to spray GRC you’ll need a few more specialist tools such as a face coat spray gun, along with an air compressor etc. Typically sprayed GRC is built up in 2 stages: a thin “mist coat” is sprayed first and provides the surface appearance, followed by a “backer coat” which has the fibre mixed in.

For GRC PRO customers wanting to make their own benchtop or concrete furniture there are 2 x options available;

Option 1: PREMIX

Premix which is an 'all in one' concrete that has a perfectly balanced mix of all the ingredients needed to make high strength, flowable concrete e.g. Cement, Silica sand, Pozzolan, Polymer, Superplasticizer, Shrinkage reducer and defoamer etc Premix is convenient as you do not have to manually measure out each ingredient but you do pay slightly more

Good for people having a go for the first time and / or anyone wanting to do small production runs as it greatly reduces the labour cost

Option 2: 'From Scratch' mix

We also sell all of the individual ingredients required to make GRC to your own recipe 'from scratch'. Ideal for anyone wanting a deeper understanding of how concrete mixes work and we strongly recommend you sign up for the CCI online training. You will save a bit of money on the ingredients but you'll need to be willing to spend time putting the mix together, weighing out ingredients etc.

From scratch mixes give you more flexibility to be able to modify the workability, stiffness and visual effects of your final product e.g. vertical rock faces, marble effects, artwork and Terrazzo etc.

Curing is super important and the general rule of thumb is the longer the better! Ideally, leave your GRC to cure for 3-4 days otherwise you can use accelerators or curing agents such as polymer to speed things up. Either way careful consideration should always be given to monitoring temperature and moisture to aid the curing process.

Moulds can typically be made from a variety of materials such as MDF, Plywood, Steel, Fibreglass and Polyurethane rubber etc or a combination of one or all of these materials. For more detailed information, video tutorials and mix designs visit https://concretecountertopinstitute.com/free-training/.

Concrete is porous by nature and can readily stain and we strongly recommend sealing products such as benchtops and sinks to prevent staining. GRC PRO sells high-performance sealers that are exceptionally durable and provide excellent resistance to incidental contact with staining agents such as red wine, lemon juice and olive oil.

If you’re looking to return or exchange your order for whatever reason, we offer free returns within 30 days of purchase. You can return your product for store credit, a different product, or a refund to the original payment method. Please note the following exceptions to our return and refund policy:

• Discounted items are final and cannot be returned or exchanged

• Indented items cannot be returned or exchanged

• Returned items must be returned unopened in original product packaging

• Returned items must have no visible signs of wear or use

To initiate a return, please complete the following steps:

• Reply to your order confirmation email to request which products you would like to return

• Print the prepaid return shipping label that you will receive by email

• Send all items back to us using the label provided