Concrete Decor's Current Articles

When it came to installing floors at his new decorative concrete training facility, concrete guru Bob Harris chose to emulate the old ways of Venetian artists.

About a week after having my fourth child, I received several kind comments and gestures from people across our industry. But two in particular stuck out. The first involved a residential client and the second was from a commercial general contractor. The interactions made me ponder the pros and cons of residential construction versus commercial.

Compressive strength — the ability of a material to withstand being compressed or pushed together — is often used to determine mortar and concrete’s quality. This makes sense for floors and overlayments as the primary forces applied to them are downward, compressive loads from traffic, equipment or anything affected by the force of gravity.

1. Handholding

2. County Permits

3. Electric Requirements for Lighting

4. Spouse POC (point of contact)

5. Submit Unique Jobs for Awards

Take your time... and get it right! The good news is that you can make more money on decorative concrete than on plain old flatwork. Prices can increase by anywhere from $2 per square foot to as much as $13 per square foot in some states.

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

Pennsylvania artist Robert Stadnycki has excelled in a number of media: textiles, painting, furniture. Last year, he tried decorative concrete for the first time, collaborating with SunWorks, Etc. LLC to craft three countertops in his distinctive style for a kitchen.

Luisa is the senior sales representative and Dan is president at Greystone Masonry, the company they founded 18 years ago. The Dittmanns have enjoyed a high level of success, doing a lot of work for increasingly sophisticated homeowners and for the many government facilities in their region of the country.

Most decorative concrete artisans don’t submit their work into juried art shows, but that’s the world that Thomas Lancaster is trying to ease into.

Success can’t and shouldn’t be measured by comparing your business against your peers’. Comparison is a dirty word and an even worse habit which can lead you down a rabbit hole of self-doubt, worry and personal as well as professional destruction. After all, we all have different motives and goals as why we do what we do.

Beauty may only be skin deep, but the performance qualities of an MQ Whiteman SlabArmor concrete surface are just as impressive as the strikingly good looks the SlabArmor system delivers.

Artists can use Quick Draw to create large and highly detailed designs comfortably from a standing position. For detailed drawing, the chalk-holder piece of the assembly, called simply Quick Draw, can be removed and used alone.

Surfaces are protected from discoloration caused by air pollution and the damage caused by freeze-thaw cycles, carbonation, graffiti, and pedestrian and vehicular-borne substances.

American Patriot Getaways in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, is one of the companies that rents cabins to vacationers who want to stay in “tree houses” in the Smoky Mountains.

The U.S. Highway 80 Corridor in southwest Jackson, Miss., is one of those aging main drags that could use some aesthetic improvements. To the relief of many locals, much-needed changes are being made.

Suppose your little decorative concrete flooring business suddenly could make deals as if it were a coast-to-coast firm?

We live in a time where so much of our business, for better or worse, is conducted electronically. On the positive side of the ledger is the fact that information can be searched and retrieved at the speed of a simple mouse click.

There are three things in this world that have room for improvement: cell phones, microwave popcorn and, you guessed it, concrete sealers. There have been more prayers and cuss words offered up regarding sealers than over any other decorative concrete issue.