Staining & Coloring Concrete

Until now, contractors have thrown shake-on color hardener onto concrete mainly by hand. It’s tradition, and contractors love tradition. But by its nature, throwing the color can be inefficient, wasteful, and expose workers to possible health risks associated with inhaling airborne silicates.

Decorative concrete product manufacturer L. M. Scofield Co. has announced the winners of its Fourth Annual Decorative Concrete Awards contest. This contest was open to any contractor, architect or designer who uses or specifies Scofield Systems.

The Decorative Concrete Council, a specialty council of the American Society of Concrete Contractors, recognized the winners of its ninth annual Decorative Concrete Awards competition Jan. 17 at the World of Concrete in Las Vegas.

A solid-color concrete stain might be described as a cross between a coating and a stain, with the opaque solid color reminding one of a coating and the penetrating properties being more like a stain.

As complements to stains, as colorants on polished concrete jobs or on their own, dyes are earning a more permanent place in the decorative concrete artisan’s tool kit.

As part of the Aagen Group’s renovation of its facilities in Houston, the Business Flooring Specialists refurbished the company’s shipping and receiving ramp. The ramp was showing wear and tear and also needed its traction improved — especially when it was wet.

Many of history’s most beautiful works of art were created for places of worship. These days, decorative concrete is doing its part to beautify churches across the country.

The language barrier was the least of the obstacles a team of two professors and a student from Southern Arkansas University had to overcome during a weeklong trip to Cuba last November for an art project with the University of Artemisa. The saga began with a lack of supplies and ended with the death of Fidel Castro the night before the Americans left.

Even on the thumb tip of northwest Washington state, decorative concrete is making its mark, thanks to this father-son outfit.

Steven Ochs and Gerald Taylor, hoping to inspire others to lend a helping hand to tsunami victims, created this concrete composition that shows the power and determination of children everywhere.

In the hills of Southern Indiana lies a massive steel and concrete structure steeped in history. The Viaduct — also known locally as the Tulip Trestle, the Richland Creek Viaduct, the Green County Viaduct and officially, Bridge X75-6, according to Bloomingpedia — was once the largest railroad trestle in the United States.

A few colors of dye, some common butcher paper and a little creativity are all it takes to get this handsome mottled finish.

Anyone visiting the Bosch Tool outdoor booth at World of Concrete 2011 could not have missed this tool-carved decorative concrete work created by Steven Ochs and Gerald Taylor.

The remodel of Miami Carol City High School in Florida a couple of years ago included the installation of an outside amphitheater, topped with a stencil design of the team’s logo, a giant “Chiefs” head.

Give your next faux-stone wall vertical project the look of a Spanish vineyard with this effect from Flex-C-Ment.

Welcome to the new age of antiquing stamped concrete. When it comes to antiquing and/or providing accent colors on stamped concrete, installers today have more options than ever.

Wisconsin is not exactly the epicenter of the decorative concrete universe, but this determined contractor is making a splash with his beautiful work.

The Concrete Color Maintenance System, from Newlook Coatings and Stains, is a solid-color, water-based stain that penetrates the surface of porous concrete to stain it to almost any color desired. “It’s like integralcolored concrete, only more perfectly colored,” says Sonny Baird, a partner in Newlook.

In 2011, the city of Carmel, Indiana, revamped its major roadway, the Keystone Parkway, as part of a multiphase project to lower the grade under six major intersections. This created new interchanges and no traffic lights for north-south traffic over a five-mile stretch, while six new roundabouts managed east-west traffic.

In order to complete the nearly 2,000 square feet of surface area in just one week, workers from Butterfield and Miracote teamed up with local contractors to take on the massive overhaul.

Applying stains and sealers with spray equipment may strike the decorative concrete contractor as a convenient, speedy solution, not terribly complicated.

Our task had been to art-direct the placement of a new natural gray topping slab, and to subsequently patina it to simulate some 20 years of hard use. In other words, we were turning it from gray to “that special gray.”

After decades’ worth of ramshackle renovations and rehabilitations, the floors at this retail and residential complex were in sorry shape. Giving them one more facelift took some doing.