Concrete Decor's Current Articles

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.

To some, Instagram may seem like a platform where you go to look at pretty pictures all day. But did you know it can be a powerful money-making marketing tool that brings project opportunities for your decorative concrete business? What if I told you that by using Instagram correctly for your business, you can get discovered and dominate your market?

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.

There are some important, key factors that can help you be more successful with your concrete countertops. Here I will discuss a fundamental ingredient: water. We’ve all worked with concrete and water, but working with a material isn’t the same as knowing how it works.

Mike Riggs is a guy who can say that he really did grow up in the concrete business. His first job was for Progressive Concrete Works, a concrete company his father started in 1954 in Phoenix, Arizona.

Decorative concrete is going to the dogs. Or at least that’s the impression visitors are getting at Paws by the Lake, a pet boarding facility that opened recently in Avon Lake, Ohio.

Unlike a fine wine, decorative concrete does not always age well.

And a decade or two after the first massive surge in popularity of decorative concrete, plenty of owners of residential and commercial property are realizing that their patterned, textured and colored concrete does not look like it once did.

Fu-Tung Cheng announced the winners of Cheng Concrete’s 2012 Circle of Distinction Design Challenge honoring design and craftsmanship in decorative concrete. The Design Challenge featured nine entry categories.

Tamara Gilgenast combines passion and a veteran’s discipline and attention to detail to create works of art in concrete. Though she only started her business about four years ago after discovering The Ashby System, she already has an extensive portfolio.

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

It all starts with a call. It doesnt matter how talented or artistic or expensive or cheap you are, all new business starts with a call. New work is the lifeblood business growth.

It is widely known that the decorative concrete industry has struggled with tape issues for decades. These range from the tape tearing when overlays are being applied, or stain bleeding under the tape, to adhesive effectiveness when the tape gets wet.

Some people are good at doing, while others are better at teaching others how. When you find you have a natural talent in both directions, it generally pays to run with it.

"Be an expert." Avoiding trying to be all things to all people, instead of focusing in on what they are good at and becoming an expert in that one area.This thought comes full circle when you think about how it relates to decorative concrete, especially in the application of stains and dyes.

There are many regions where the weather does not seem winterlike but is cold enough to affect concrete placement. This is where cold-weather placement practices become very important. Not following the rules because it does not seem that cold potentially leads to concrete that is weak and substandard.

If you haven’t started, now is a good time to set the wheels in motion. It’s only a hunch, but I believe we are all in for a healthier year ahead businesswise.

Many concrete professionals who are asked how they got into the business of concrete say they sort of “fell into it.”

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.