About Castin Crete Designs
Built by hand in Hartland, Wisconsin.
Castin Crete Designs builds architectural-grade GFRC concrete fire tables by hand in Hartland, Wisconsin. Every table is individually batched, hand-cast, and personally overseen by founder Dwight Ingalls. None of it is done on a production line. None of it is outsourced. What leaves the studio represents what happens when you take the material seriously and build every table as if it were the only one being made.
How We Build Them
Six stages. Every one done by hand.
The Mold
Every fire table starts with a mold built specifically for that piece. We work in fiberglass, wood, metal, rubber and fabric depending on the design. The mold determines the precision of the finished surface and the structural accuracy of every edge and corner.
The Mix
We use high-performance GFRC batched individually for each table. Alkali-resistant glass fibers, professional-grade admixtures, and a carefully controlled water-to-cement ratio. Temperature, humidity and application pressure all affect how GFRC behaves on a given day. Accounting for those variables is part of what separates a well-built table from one that fails after two winters.
Casting
The concrete is hand-applied into the mold in layers, not poured all at once. Each layer is worked by hand to ensure proper consolidation, consistent thickness and complete adhesion. The burner opening and structurally critical areas receive additional reinforcement as part of the cast.
Curing
After casting, the concrete goes through a controlled curing process. Curing is not simply waiting for the concrete to harden. It is the period during which the cementitious system develops the strength and density the mix was designed to achieve. We control that process because it directly affects long-term performance.
Finishing
Once demolded, the surface is diamond-honed by hand to remove imperfections and bring out the natural character of the concrete. Color is integral to the mix, not painted or coated on top, which means it does not fade or peel. Subtle tonal variation across the surface is normal in handcrafted architectural concrete. It is not a defect.
Sealing
Each table is hand-sealed with a professional-grade sealing system we have used and watched perform outdoors in Wisconsin year after year. Long-term maintenance is straightforward: clean it as needed and apply the spray-on wax we provide occasionally to maintain the finish.
How It All Started
Dwight Ingalls built his first fire table in 2012 alongside a customer of his mold-making business in Sarasota, Florida. That build became the Fire and Ice table. He did not know it at the time, but it would eventually become Castin Crete Designs.
Before founding the business, Dwight worked as a decorative concrete sales representative, training contractors, teaching classes and building hands-on knowledge of GFRC long before most people selling fire tables knew what the initials stood for. He also spent years building fiberglass molds, a skill from an earlier career that gave him an unusual combination of manufacturing precision and material knowledge.
A design-oriented friend saw a concrete bowl Dwight had built and told him flatly that he needed to be selling these. He took the idea to a few other designers. They agreed. Castin Crete followed.
Dwight has lived in Wisconsin his entire life and is currently based in the Oconomowoc area. Every fire table that ships from the Hartland studio has been individually batched, hand-cast and personally overseen by Dwight. That is not a marketing claim. It is how the shop runs.
Visit the Hartland Showroom
N77 W31144 Hartman Court Ste. E, Hartland, WI 53029 | (262) 501-9966