The world's foremost resource on decorative concrete
Instead of ripping out and replacing, existing concrete can be repaired and restored with the aid of the right equipment, products and know-how.
As undoubtedly the most colorful and memorable element of the U.S. National Park Service, the infamous Alcatraz Island gets more than a million visitors a year, and it shows.The concrete walkways, railings and other structures are weathered and badly in need of stabilization and repair.
The decorative overlay industry has grown exponentially over the last 10 years, and so has the number of failures and problems related to overlay installations.
A Nashville youth center gets a decorative concrete makeover as part of the 2011 Concrete Decor Show.
There are few things more frustrating about making concrete countertops than dealing with bug holes. They seem to always show up and are seemingly just about impossible to fill completely. You think you’ve got them all filled, only to have bug holes show up after final polishing.
The substrate that is used in a work of art has a lot of control over the finished product. Polished concrete is no different. We have seen the beautiful pictures of floors that show fantastic color, reflectivity and clarity. What we don’t see are the shots of poorly finished column block-outs or spalled control joints that were cut with dull saw blades.
The primary design focus of the five year renovation of the J. Paul Getty Museum was to modernize the existing museum, which is a replica of a Roman villa buried in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and breath new life using decorative concrete.
In this industry we’ve all seen our share of old and faded colored concrete that has been bleached out by the elements and is in need of some type of color fix or restoration. That was the condition of the existing stamped concrete at Diablo Grande Golf Course & Country Club, near Patterson, Calif.
The notion that decorative concrete can change lives might seem like a bold idea, but it has never been so apparent than at the Charlotte Rescue Mission, the recipient of this year’s community makeover courtesy of the Concrete Decor Show.
Stamped concrete is the very foundation of decorative concrete industry. The ability to take concrete and add pattern and color separates you from your competition. This ability also increases a customer’s expectations. Simply put, most customers will not accept a random crack running through patterned concrete, nor should they.
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.
