The world's foremost resource on decorative concrete
From self-cleaning and self-repairing to bendable and glowing, concrete is constantly evolving, regularly bringing technologically improved products to market.
Once you complete a job and you know the client is happy, follow up over the phone or through email to ask for a testimonial or quote for your website or a brochure. To make things even more convenient, send a stamped postcard they can easily mail back to you.
The fear that we may lose touch with the concrete artistry in our industry is a legitimate feeling. It seems like more and more projects require firm decisions and designs before they ever reach our eyes. Are we losing the chance to add our expertise, advice and artistic touch to decorative projects?
Websites have changed the relationships between businesses and customers. Having an attractive, purposeful and convenient website can make or break a company. A website is particularly useful for a decorative concrete artisan, because it allows you to visually showcase your work, publish testimonials and be easily found by potential customers.
Choosing the right manufacturer is a dilemma every contractor in our industry faces every day. I’ve heard many analogies used to describe the decorative concrete industry over the years, but two comparisons have always resonated the most: “Polished Concrete is part Art and part Construction,” and “The polishing industry is still the Wild West.”
An electrical engineer at Missouri University of Science and Technology is using microwave energy to test concrete and rehabilitated aluminum, and in the future her work could lead to safer bridges and aircraft parts.
Europe’s first solar concrete wall appears at Reckli’s headquarter in Herne, Germany. The structure’s smart facade combines various concrete structures and a solar energy generating film.
The New York Times recently reported that hemp fibers are being worked into concrete to form a mixture called hempcrete. While no one would want to smoke this stuff, it does seem particularly useful as a building material.
Cement production contributes an estimated 6 percent of global greenhouse-gas emissions, and some scientists are trying to chip away at that pollution problem. Two start-ups, one in Canada and another in Arizona, are among the newer entries in the effort to produce cleaner cement and concrete.
Collaboration between industry and academia has created a mix of in-class learning and hands-on experience that is helping to solve an ongoing challenge for the concrete sector — adding youth to the workforce.
The manufacturing process which produces ordinary portland cement, the ubiquitous ingredient in the concrete used around the world, is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. New research suggests that portland cement can be produced with no carbon dioxide emissions.
