The world's foremost magazine on decorative concrete
Instead of pouring concrete, concrete installers place concrete where they want it to go. And there are right ways and wrong ways to do this.
Historically, repurposing glass for use in concrete mixtures has simply involved crushing and grinding the glass to a smaller size. Resizing alone doesn’t bring glass processing far enough to create a functional raw material for the concrete industry.
According to a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report, the total amount of waste material has increased from 88 million tons in 1960 to 262 million tons in 2015. In 2015, 26% of the waste materials was recycled, 9% was composted, 13% was combusted with energy recovery and 52% was disposed of in landfills.
When it comes to forming the edges of countertops, pool coping and steps, a good form liner or mold is an indispensable tool that can help you get the job done quicker and easier — no more hand chiseling or finagling a texture mat to give you a detailed edge.
Most of the country is still shaking off the effects of a long cold winter followed by a wet spring. Eventually the temperature will rise, and the long hot days of summer will be upon us. With that in mind now would be a good time to review warm weather practices.
The 28-day curing time is standard in the concrete industry and comes into play on almost every project, including the application of most decorative sealers, coatings, stains and toppings. Is that because the concrete needs to have a certain strength, or is there something else going on?
When choosing to use colored concrete on a project, there is very often a discrepancy between the owner’s expectations and the reality of the finished job. Two major reasons for this are that manufacturers’ color charts cannot possibly show the true color, and most contractors fail to adequately explain this to the customer.
In decorative concrete, a common question is, “Is it form before function, or function before form?” This question is more complex now — despite the answer, consumers ask if the construction materials used are sustainable. Is there such a thing as a low-carbon swimming pool, a low-carbon countertop or an environmentally friendly polished concrete floor?
Polished concrete continues to make headway as the flooring choice for grocery chains, big-box stores, museums, schools, restaurants and government buildings, but there’s a recurring problem that keeps rearing its ugly head: joint separation.
Joints — both construction and control — are parts of almost every concrete project. Whether the job is a stained patio or a stamped sidewalk, good planning and a little extra care can help create a finished surface that’s both attractive and properly jointed.
When it comes to concrete — as with so many other things in life — people tend to judge a book by its cover. There’s nothing like a giant crack or a crumbling corner in a recent concrete placement to make an unhappy customer.
