Concrete Decor's Current Articles

Since the cranes for a rooftop hardscape project had moved on before the precast concrete furniture was ready, a helicopter was hired to do the heavy lifting.

If done right, polished concrete — and other decorative concrete approaches — offer low-maintenance solutions in interior and exterior settings.

That’s “low-maintenance” as opposed to “no-maintenance” or “maintenance-free.”

Crafting countertops and sinks out of concrete brings out the best of the material’s chameleon-like qualities.

When you’re 22 years old, it’s hard to seriously imagine that you could be one of the founders of your own business with some friends and succeed in doing it.

We all need new business, but distinguishing between reasonable and unreasonable buyers is important. The difference between a deal breaker and an issue that is merely an obstacle can be a loss or profit of thousands of dollars.

A design from the front of a jewelry case in the owner’s family was painstakingly re-created in concrete and enclosed by a circular border.

In 2005, Mesolini Glass Studio was commissioned by the Rotary Club of Bainbridge Island to create a concrete-and-glass mosaic map of the island to be placed at the new Rotary Gateway Park.

Jenkins offered a rock bench as a gesture of friendship, but the biologist wouldn’t accept it without his wife’s approval. Turns out, the wife desired a bench in the shape of a whale’s tail.

Funny name, serious benefits: Polyaspartic coatings and sealers boast rapid cure times, UV stability, abrasion resistance and more.

Last year, a homeowner in Augusta, New Jersey, went into a masons’ supply store looking for a fix for his pool deck. The pavers installed 15 years ago had settled. The deck wasn’t draining properly, and his homeowner’s insurance company had identified the paver portion of the pool deck as a hazard.

There is something that could be said about the connection between wine and the invention of a great idea.

This certainly holds true for Bob Harris, president of the Decorative Concrete Institute.

Westcoat Specialty Coating Systems has sent us some photos and information of a striking dye installation in the classrooms, hallways and main entrance of the United States University building in Chula Vista, Calif.

If you install stamped concrete, you should be maintaining stamped concrete. You already have all the equipment you need, and you have the experience and training you need as well. Offering an annual maintenance program on your work, or any stamped concrete work for that matter, is a good source of revenue that does not require much in the way of equipment or mental gymnastics.

Ryan Neal of SBR Concrete was hired by a former client to create a basement floor that had to be not only easy to clean, but also unique. The end result was a floor made with hand-shaped rectangular "stones," each individually colored so that no two would look exactly the same.

The concrete industry at large designs mixes using the volumetric method. Fresh concrete is sold by volume, generally by the cubic yard, which is how we will look at it. Divide cubic yard volumes by 27 to get cubic foot volumes.

The science magazine Rubin reports that engineers at Germany's Ruhr-Universität Bochum have developed a shotcrete that can render tunnels, bridges and other structures more resistant against fires and explosions.

Decorative concrete overlays, stampings, fountains and countertops created from scratch. And the best part of all was that the majority of the work the artisans created are to become a permanent working part of Walla Walla County Fairgrounds.

Resealing exterior stamped concrete, stained concrete or decorative concrete is probably the most misunderstood and least-studied process in our industry. It has the potential to be a repeat revenue stream or a headache that never really goes away.