Concrete Decor's Current Articles

Concrete in new construction is like a blank canvas. Unblemished and uncracked, it’s the ideal concrete to stain. Every stage — from cleaning to ­sealing — is important. However, there are many moving parts in new construction projects which can affect the concrete staining process. Timing is essential.

Through what Laticrete channel manager Jeff Bonkiewicz labels “connections,” a diverse group of Spartacote resinous flooring and Laticrete salesmen, company representatives and contractors teamed up to install a 13,000-square-foot floor for a new craft beer facility in Ogden, Utah.

As polished concrete has increased in popularity, there has been a tremendous number of innovative products brought to the market to help meet customer expectations. One very important product is polyurea. It’s a two-part liquid-applied product that sets up quickly, gets hard enough to polish, and comes in a wide variety of colors and viscosity levels.

Many comments, instructions, warnings, and confused looks surround the numerous ways acid stain colors can fluctuate from one concrete slab to another. Even under the tightest quality controls, concrete reacts with chemical stains differently every time. However, the sometimes-unpredictable reactions are exactly what produce the interesting and beautiful results one can achieve from acid stains.

The “Florida cracker” cowboy rode off into the sunset long ago. But thanks to a design team’s partnership with decorative concrete company Edwards Concrete, residents of a central Florida community can immerse themselves in the region’s frontier days.

Five veteran contractors and artisans provide insight by explaining where their decorative concrete journeys began, how their skill sets grew and how diversification has affected their careers.

When people compliment Colorado Hardscapes Inc.’s marketing department, I tend to smile just a bit. People often mistakenly think our decorative concrete company operates like a large corporation, with multiple staff just waiting for their next task.

The market for residential curbing is growing by leaps and bounds. It can be a profitable niche for a concrete contractor.

Bonding agents are a widely debated family of products. Some concrete contractors will tell you they have a favorite bonding agent, one that they use almost exclusively. Others say they evaluate every job and develop a unique solution, drawing from a wide range of products. And there are some contractors who swear by the oldest bonding agent of them all, simply using a mixture of portland cement and water.

A look at sandblasting, stenciled overlays and the new gelled-acid etching techniques.

People have enjoyed sitting outside around a fire since, well, since they discovered fire. Besides the practicalities of fire for warmth, light and cooking, the comfort and romance of fire make us want to pull our chairs up to the hearth and turn our backs on the daily grind.

The Museum of Art/Fort Lauderdale likes to say “there is always something new and different at the Museum,” but until recently, that claim did not apply to the building’s exterior.

The handsome floor of the Arts and Crafts Room was the finishing touch at the Children’s Museum of Phoenix, a facility improved by a series of decorative concrete projects as part of the 2010 Concrete Decor Show & Decorative Concrete Spring Training.

If you’re doing anything with polishing, drilling or sawing concrete these days, you’re likely already using water in your processes. Those hedging on not using wet processes are staring straight at a mandate from OSHA that requires contractors to reduce the permissible exposure limit (PEL) for respirable crystalline silica.

The decorative concrete business often can follow a roller-coaster trajectory, with ups and downs that can challenge the stomach.

Fortunately for David Edwards and his 30-year-old company Edwards Concrete, a profitable relationship with Florida’s amusement and theme parks has played an integral role in the ride.

The go-cart track at the Legoland Discovery Center was another challenging, yet fun, job for Chris Post of Elite Concrete Solutions LLC. The roadway hash marks required him to make a 2-by-4 jig to lay them in an evenly spaced manner all the way around the track.

In some cases, people were in fact looking to get a free application of sealer on their driveway, or a buff and wax on an interior floor within the warranty period of our work. However most were just interested in protecting the investment that they made, and wanted our help to ensure that the right products and procedures were in place.

On display for the first time at this year's World of Concrete show. The new magnesium "beveling" hand tool is designed to slope the concrete edge under overhead garage doors keeping water from flowing into the building