The world's foremost resource 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.
Sure, radiant-heated concrete is warm and comfortable. But before you get too comfortable, there are underlayments, insulation and other factors to consider.
Place decorative aggregate by hand instead of mixing it in, and beauty is just a stone’s throw away.
As a child, who wasn’t thrilled to see the wood forms come out indicating a new sidewalk, driveway or even basement was about to be poured? Today, we know concrete can do so much more, and certainly the forms that helped shape it have changed, too.
Have you come across clients who are considering polished, stamped or stained concrete flooring, but who hesitate because concrete is a naturally cold surface?
Consider the broom finish. Because steel trowel finishes are “slippery when wet,” the broom finish has been used for years to create nonskid surfaces on driveways, garage floors, sidewalks and loading docks. It’s not necessarily pretty, but it works — it’s a utilitarian texture.
How the decorative concrete revolution is starting to push tilt-up walls into the 21st century.
Harry Gressette of Grescon Construction LLC in Charleston, S.C., puts enough glass in his concrete each year to fill two tractor trailers. So he knows the ins and outs of exposed glass aggregate.
Decorative concrete contractor Tom Ralston has probably never met you, but even so, he suspects you’re waiting too long before cutting your control joints. “Saw-cutting concrete is usually done long after the concrete has been poured or has set up,” he says. “It’s kind of like locking the gate after the horse has left.”
Researchers have successfully reinforced concrete with plastic waste, paving way for the first large-scale sustainable construction practice.
A primer on accelerators and their use in decorative concrete. Accelerators are one of the most popular kinds of chemical admixtures. Like water reducers, retarders and plasticizers, when added to a concrete batch either immediately before or during mixing.
