Concrete Decor's Current Articles

Doing museum-quality work doesn’t always entail fashioning blank backdrops to show items of interest at their best. Sometimes, as is the case of a pollinator-themed playground at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, D.C., it involves colorful GFRC carvings that are larger than life.

Imagine the convenience and versatility of a decorative concrete finish that can be applied to walls or floors.

Actually, it’s not a matter for the imagination. Such decorative finishes already exist.

Historically, repurposing glass for use in concrete mixtures has simply involved crushing and grinding the glass to a smaller size. Resizing alone doesn’t bring glass processing far enough to create a functional raw material for the concrete industry.

A review of tools and methods for sink polishing and edge profiling concrete countertops.

Decorative concrete has become the fastest growing segment of the concrete industry. But in part because of this, the decorative market rarely allows individual contractors to effectively master and install each type of decorative concrete.

Like any commercial building, the Charlotte Convention Center has a set of emergency exits that lead to the outside. However, the Convention Center had a unique problem in that its doors led towards the tracks for the Charlotte Light Rail.

This column covers a topic that could determine the sustainability of your business: indoor air quality both during and after construction. Although air quality for your workers and your clients has always been your responsibility, new federal rules are making it essential.

An Australian company is harvesting blast furnace waste and converting it into a new product to make cement in China, where 60% of the world’s iron waste is found.

A recent blog post on BuddyRhodes.com talked about wanting to make bigger, better objects. But because they strive to do the unexpected, they put forth a challenge to see what artists could do to make smaller objects instead.

When it comes to concrete — as with so many other things in life — people tend to judge a book by its cover. There’s nothing like a giant crack or a crumbling corner in a recent concrete placement to make an unhappy customer.

The success of your decorative concrete future hinges on one word: anticipation. The ability to anticipate where to find the potential buyers of services over the next year or two is one few professionals even consider.

When stamping, California contractor Lee Levig likes to use more than one color as the base color, usually different shades of the same color.

Unlike acid stains, which achieve their natural good looks with a chemical reaction, today’s water-based copycats often rely on employing proper techniques.

“The imagery was kind of inspired by the playfulness of the site,” Lucking says. “It’s like psychedelic cactuses, which is what Fourth Avenue is like.” They decided Lucking would execute the design in a mosaic on the pavement, and Goldlust would render it as cutouts in the station’s steel benches and partitions.

There is nothing more stressful than deciding on the best path for your business. Making the right decision at the right time is very important in growing and in perfecting the decorative craft. I had to answer each of the questions below at some point in my decorative journey and I’m guessing so will you.

A high-strength cementitious material gave contractors exactly what they needed to restore this venerable and historic building.

At the Tampa Museum of Art, all eyes are on the compelling paintings, photographs and sculptures. And the building itself evokes an essence that’s subtle and serene so as not to detract from the art on display.

Surely you’ve heard the phrase “concrete jungle,” but what about concrete in the jungle? In this case, the jungle is the Rainforest Habitat at Discovery Place, in uptown Charlotte. The exhibit boasts wildlife ranging from birds and reptiles to vegetation such as palms and epiphytes.