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I am in the process of finishing a built in entertainment center in the basement consisting of an alcove in the wall where the flat screen TV will hang flanked on either side by built in bookcases. Underneath the TV there will be a built in that will house the satellite boxes, home theater PC, etc... Here is a pic of the unfinished space:
The area underneath of the TV needs something to finish off the top and I was thinking of something kind of like a hearth like you'd see on a large fireplace. I thought about trying to get a piece of stone cut to fit it but it would likely be a lot more than I want to spend. Then I started thinking about concrete. Since this is such a small job (3 bags of concrete plus some reinforcing wire, anti-crack additives, silicone caulk and melamine for the forms would likely total less than $100) I'm willing to give it a shot. One of these days we're going to remodel our kitchen and I'd love to do concrete countertops, so why not practice with this? The big question is how much can you cantilever with concrete? I want the "hearth" to overhang the support structure underneath by 5" with 5" x 4" "ears" on either side (see graphic below) to finish out the look. Would these be prone to breaking? I'm planning on doing a 2" thick slab so I would have some room to add 3/8" rebar in addition to the reinforcing wire if that would help.

The area underneath of the TV needs something to finish off the top and I was thinking of something kind of like a hearth like you'd see on a large fireplace. I thought about trying to get a piece of stone cut to fit it but it would likely be a lot more than I want to spend. Then I started thinking about concrete. Since this is such a small job (3 bags of concrete plus some reinforcing wire, anti-crack additives, silicone caulk and melamine for the forms would likely total less than $100) I'm willing to give it a shot. One of these days we're going to remodel our kitchen and I'd love to do concrete countertops, so why not practice with this? The big question is how much can you cantilever with concrete? I want the "hearth" to overhang the support structure underneath by 5" with 5" x 4" "ears" on either side (see graphic below) to finish out the look. Would these be prone to breaking? I'm planning on doing a 2" thick slab so I would have some room to add 3/8" rebar in addition to the reinforcing wire if that would help.
