Concrete Decor's Current Articles

Is there value in having a dedicated trade show for the decorative concrete industry? The short answer is yes. There’s tremendous value in having an industry-focused show. While there are decorative-devoted pavilions at other shows, they are just that — areas within other events.

Texas-based VLK Architects is no stranger to being recognized for its outstanding accomplishments when it comes to designing public schools such as the monumental and expressive Dan Dipert Career and Technical Center.

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.

Many companies might have been satisfied with creating a successful coating system that has steadily gained in popularity. Wilmer Rowe, chief chemist of HP Spartacote LLC, is cut from a different cloth. Taking inspiration from some of the staining exhibits at World of Concrete, he began working toward creating stains that would integrate with HP Spartacote's polyaspartics.

The vast majority of return customers usually flow straight into the project’s objective, colors, design, etc., but this conversation was anything but typical. Each time when asked about designs or expectations the customer brought up price and budget.

Mike Miller explores examples of the concept of sensory concrete, which gives the material a voice. Sometimes the material is the concrete itself, and sometimes it's the material or the process influencing the concrete.

For years, Tyler Stephens, owner of Stephens Concrete Sealing in Indianapolis, used to use your typical film-forming sealer on his outdoor concrete projects. “It left a little sheen behind and had nice curb appeal, but it didn’t bead water the way penetrating sealers do,” he says.

If you're new to making concrete countertops, you may have encountered any of a number of pesky problems. Even experienced concrete countertop artisans encounter a problem now and then, but they will also tell you that practice makes perfect.

When sculptor Seth R. Alexander teamed up with concrete artisan Richard Winget and his son, Jacob Winget, to create the Watchung 9/11 Memorial in New Jersey last summer, the task truly involved the whole borough of Watchung.

Here, the Concrete Decor staff shares its top 10 favorite out-of-the-ordinary concrete creations that were featured or almost featured in the past 99 issues. The thin-shell pavilion and fabric-formed planter tied for first place, while the faux bois sconce and slippers tied for second.

That intriguing disk is an Aztec calendar colored with SS products. Coyne Edmison, general manager of The Stamp Store, a retailer affiliated with SS, sent us the rest of the story.

Concrete is going to crack and contractors should be prepared to handle certain issues when they happen.

When business is slow and credit is tight, you must do all you can do to preserve working capital, also referred to as operating capital. It’s an important financial metric calculated as current assets minus current liabilities. It’s the difference between the money you’ve been paid and the cash you owe.

Mark Celebuski, general manager of Pinnacle Cast Concrete, wants to share some of his hard-earned wisdom with the readers of Concrete Decor. He has developed a list of 10 tips he thinks will help concrete countertop makers in particular improve their businesses.

Whether you create them on site or buy them precast, faux rocks can be a valuable part of your portfolio.

Self-consolidating concrete is a highly technical mix. It is not an easy mix to create, since it requires an understanding of how all the ingredients work together. What’s more, specialized testing is required to characterize and optimize the mix.

Cory Hanneman has put a lot of thought into developing a sales strategy for decorative concrete that involves, in his words, “raging against the big-box machine” and its road map of “massive selection and predictability.”

Photo highlights from our tour of Disney World, plus the inside story of how concrete makes the park what it is today.