Concrete Decor's Current Articles

Five projects that featured products from the Scofield line, a brand of Sika Corp., were honored in the 11th annual Decorative Concrete Awards competition. First-place winners and runners-up were announced during the 2019 World of Concrete in Las Vegas.

Do you know the single-most important ingredient in a concrete countertop that can make or break a business? If you thought concrete, think again — it’s the sealer.

In the category of wheelbarrows, this one packs a heck of a lot of power. Electric wheelbarrows and mini skid-steers can ease manual labor.

Decorative concrete product manufacturer L. M. Scofield Co. has announced the winners of its Fourth Annual Decorative Concrete Awards contest. This contest was open to any contractor, architect or designer who uses or specifies Scofield Systems.

Steven Ochs and Gerald Taylor, hoping to inspire others to lend a helping hand to tsunami victims, created this concrete composition that shows the power and determination of children everywhere.

The first thing designers should consider is the shape of the given work space and how to divide the space to create a striking and balanced composition.

Plenty of people can work with concrete and make functional and aesthetically pleasing interior and exterior structures. A skatepark, however, is a different animal. In addition to having a sound structural plan and fresh features, a great park needs a crew that understands motion.

Glass-fiber reinforced concrete (GFRC) lets you explore many aspects of design that are not possible with the more traditional precast methods. While GFRC is often used for countertops, we’ll delve into how it can be used to construct a GFRC base for an outdoor patio table.

A vinegar-producing company needed a heat- and chemical-resistant floor for their busy production facility. TNT Resurfacing partnered with Azevedo Concrete to install Westcoat’s premier urethane cement system,Temper-Crete, throughout the 1,450-square-foot processing area.

The Concrete Promotional Group is out of the gates with the winners of its 2011 Excellence in Concrete Awards. The trade association represents the concrete industry in the greater Kansas City area. Its awards competition recognizes all kinds of concrete construction projects, and several awards are focused on the decorative trades.

Southwestern Paint and Supply’s Hydro Guard, a sealer designed 22 years ago for secondary containment of chemicals and for sealing exterior stucco, has been discovered in recent years by decorative concrete fabricators who appreciate its thinness and praise its stain resistance and durability.

However you define slump, the bottom line remains the same: Slump is a test for the rigidity of uncured concrete. Lower slump concrete is very stiff, and higher slump concrete is more fluid.

Antiquing stampable overlays is taken for granted these days. However, there are many ways to achieve this effect. This method is a quick, consistent and effective way to achieve a beautiful antiqued look with Miracote products.

I wish I had 10 cents a square foot for every time I've been asked this question. And other questions such as: How much more does stamping cost compared to regular concrete? Are stained floors more than tile? I've realized over the years that all the above questions are legitimate and deserve an honest answer.

The Concrete Countertop Institute (CCI) offers comprehensive education and resources for all aspects of concrete countertops. The Institute has recently added classes on creating cast-in-place countertops, marketing and selling countertops, and advanced sink fabrication.

One of the most common questions I get asked is, “What is the best sealer?” My answer to this is, “It depends.” While this may seem like I’m dodging the question, it really gets to the heart of the issue. Selecting a finish solely based on how good it is said to be can often lead to undesirable results.

There is not a comforting way to say the word “cancer.” Even in this day of strong chances of recovery and survival, it is a word that gets our attention every time. Although the products we use turn normal concrete into extraordinary works of art, some of those products are carcinogenic. Are you taking the proper measures to be safe?

When it comes to resinous quartz flooring, there are two basic ways to approach the installation. You can broadcast the quartz onto a floor coated with wet epoxy, or you can mix the epoxy and quartz together -- making what is often called epoxy mortar -- then trowel it on.