Concrete Decor's Current Articles

Growth, increased profits, value and quality are a few words I hear thrown around in the decorative concrete industry these days. It seems, and rightly so, many want to grow their business and increase their value and sustainability in the marketplace by providing quality work.

Come Nov. 28-30, Concrete Decor LIVE! will makes its debut at The Buildings Show in the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Ontario to showcase the durability and innovations of decorative and architectural concrete. A combination of five shows in one, The Buildings Show is North America’s largest annual exposition, networking and educational event for design, architecture, construction and real estate.

Located in the Silver Lot, in front of the South Hall, the third annual Decorative Concrete LIVE! will showcase the power of concrete through innovative construction applications Jan. 22-25 at World of Concrete 2019 in Las Vegas.

The Kickstarter capital-raising website is being used succesfully by forward-thinking musicians, filmmakers and artists and entrepreneurs of every stripe. Let's see if it can help a newbie decorative concrete artisan raise $6,500 by August 4 for a new casting studio.

There are two types of F-numbers, which measure floor flatness and levelness respectively. Industry expert Allen Face is the creator of the F-number system, as well as the inventor of several measurement instruments and a principal inventor of superflat floor technology.

Have you ever been in the process of completing or had just completed what to you was an amazing architectural concrete project only to be told by your client:
“It’s not what I was expecting.”
“Meh! It looks kind of ‘blah.’ I thought the color would ‘pop’ more.”
“I don’t like it.”

The fear that we may lose touch with the concrete artistry in our industry is a legitimate feeling. It seems like more and more projects require firm decisions and designs before they ever reach our eyes. Are we losing the chance to add our expertise, advice and artistic touch to decorative projects?

Sealing concrete can be frustrating! Roller marks and their cousins, "lap lines," are just two of those frustrating problems that can plague professional decorative installers.

The healthy choice for floors. Soybeans are one of the oldest crops in the world, but soy-based products are new to the decorative concrete industry. There are soy-based products available for every phase of a project. Should you be using them?

If a contractor is intimidated by the leap from slabs and tops to entire decorative concrete houses, he or she might try Steve Kornher’s techniques on architectural details such as railings or doors.

Too often we take the written word as gospel, but is that truly smart? Do we know what, or who, stands behind the words we read? After all,  paper will not refuse ink. Our industry is growing, and as the industry grows, so do the misrepresentations and misunderstandings.

Cheng Concrete has announced the winners of its 2012 Circle of Distinction Design Challenge, honoring design and craftsmanship in cast decorative concrete created by members of the Cheng Concrete Exchange.

Dominating the interior of Mille-feuille, a tiny bakery and cafe in New York City’s Greenwich Village, is a massive pale beige countertop, all smooth concrete curves and subtle flecks of off-white marble.

As the popularity of metallic floors blossoms, more and more installers are beginning to buy their metallic pigments directly from other sources to save some money and several companies have added metallic pigment products to their lineup.

Innovative concrete blends often start with an innovative admixture. In the case of the new Xtreme Series line from SureCrete Design Products, that admixture is CarpenterStone.

The combination of pools and stamped concrete doesn’t necessarily spell disaster. For one thing, when a stamped concrete surface near a pool is slick, a topical sealer, not the texture, is often the culprit.

Call them fillers or call them sealants (people often use the terms interchangeably), but it’s a good bet if you’re involved with concrete work, you’ve run into determining what to do with the joints.

High-performance building products maker Ardex Americas (the North American wing of Germany-based Ardex Group) is slowly transforming each of its six North American locations into showcases of the manufacturer’s products.