Stamping Concrete Overlays,
Tips and Techniques

Stampable overlays are increasingly popular in a broad range of applications.

Does a client have a limited budget? A stamped overlay might be a cost-effective solution when Italian marble isn’t an option. “Overlays offer the advantage of near infinite color and design, oftentimes at a fraction of the cost of alternative installations of stone, granite, marble and slate,” observes Mike Duarte, technical director at Versatile Building Products in Carson, Calif.

Need to enlarge a patio or refinish a concrete floor without removing the existing slab? Overlays make it possible. Clark Branum, area manager for Seattle-based Rafco Products-Brickform, reports, “A lot of times overlays will be used in remodel or retrofit situations, so you can achieve color and texture without using traditional materials such as concrete or stone or tile.”

For versatility, overlays are winning a growing number of fans. “You can do overlays anywhere: inside on the 15th floor as well as outside… and you don’t have to worry about concrete trucks,” says Janine Lutz, chief operating officer of SuperStone Inc. in Miami.

Contractors who are familiar with stamping concrete should be able to make the transition to stamping overlays pretty easily. Many of the tools are the same, or similar, and a few slight modifications in technique can be mastered with a little practice.

You may not need new tools
If you already have an inventory of stamps and texture skins, you may not have to buy more to begin stamping overlays.

“You can use mats specially made for overlays that don’t have deep grout lines [or] you can use regular stamps if they don’t have grout lines that are more than 3⁄8-inch deep,” Lutz says.

One of the general rules is that the depth of the texturing tool should never exceed the depth of your overlay, Branum says, adding, “It sounds pretty basic, but you’d be surprised how often it happens!” Random stone and flagstone patterns are generally more aggressive and have deeper relief than slate or seamless texture skins, he says.

Also, make sure you have enough stamps or mats for the job. Jim Rowe, a Denver-based regional sales manager with Miracote, says, “It’s a general rule of stamps to have enough to go across and halfway back. If you don’t have enough it’s almost impossible to keep your pattern aligned.”

Tools for cleaning up the joints and grout lines are the same as for concrete. S-tools, pizza-cutter style tools and chisels can all be used. Mat suppliers often have tools that match a specific pattern. Some contractors have tools they fashion themselves. Duarte says his favorite is a set of box-end and open-end wrenches that allow variation in joint size selection.