Staining & Coloring Concrete

It's that time of year again - the time when I review the hundreds of questions and situations I dealt with in 2010 looking for those special few that made me pause and just think, "Really?"

At The Stain Store's new location in north Austin, Texas, 600 square feet of flooring in the showroom and tool room was overlaid with Miracote MPC, scored with curved joints, then stained with Mirastain II alcohol-based stain, Butterfield Elements. Stain Store's own metallics were used in the tool room.

Today's trend has less to do with any certain product and more to do with a weak economy and saving money. Just like people are finding ways to make their cars go another year to save money, so too are they are looking for ways to make their existing concrete work another year.

Decorative concrete doesn’t come on a bigger scale than this. Developer Geoff Palmer has built more apartments in downtown Los Angeles than anyone else — more than 3,000 — all in the same faux-Italian style.

Light reflects off surfaces, and what an object looks like depends upon the material's surface characteristics. Some of the light is reflected, some is scattered and the rest is absorbed, so we see different things depending upon how much light is reflected from the surface and how much is scattered. The color depends upon what is absorbed.

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.

After three years of spilled milkshakes, splattered ketchup and oversquirted mustard, the carpet in the dining area of the Fuddruckers in Modesto, Calif., had to go. Franchise owner Kevin Bidlack considered replacing it but knew the fix would be temporary. Three years later, he’d have to do it again.

Westcoat Specialty Coating Systems has sent us some photos and information of a striking dye installation in the classrooms, hallways and main entrance of the United States University building in Chula Vista, Calif.

Does the use of admixtures change the intensity of integral color?

Mexico's decorative concrete construction industy lags behind the decorative industry in the United States, but staining and other techniques for coloring concrete are helping this contractor flourish south of the border.

Designing decorative concrete is no different from any other process that has endless options. The first step is to ask the questions that define the project and guide the design.

Stenciling on concrete opens the door to a world of design options that personalize and enhance a decorative concrete project. The results can be simple or complex depending on the design you are seeking.

What's the difference between concrete and decorative concrete? One of the first indicators is whether it has the dull gray color of … well, concrete, or if it incorporates a natural or even not-so-natural hue, tone or shade. Of course, there are also several ways to add color to concrete, depending on the needs and desires of the client.

Ryan Neal of SBR Concrete was hired by a former client to create a basement floor that had to be not only easy to clean, but also unique. The end result was a floor made with hand-shaped rectangular "stones," each individually colored so that no two would look exactly the same.

You don’t have to be born into the family business to be good at it, but in Emil Gera’s case, it sure helped. Gera’s father, also named Emil, was a union concrete finisher who would take his son along with him to help on weekend projects. Some of young Emil’s earliest memories involve concrete and a trowel.

Mike Miller, a Benicia, Calif., artist, calls his work "sensory concrete."

The moment you step through the doors of the Children’s Discovery Museum in central Las Vegas, you know you are in for a treat. The museum promises in its mission a “vibrant and engaging experience” for children from all walks of life.

For a guy who started from the bottom up, Jesse Escalera has managed to make a name for himself over the years through his backyard masterpieces.

The products and finishes in the decorative industry are becoming more sophisticated - polymer-modified toppings, nanotechnology sealers, and sustainable stains and dyes to name a few. But all need to remember the old tried-and-true products that still make up a large portion of the industry, and refresh ourselves on the right way to use them.

“Never hand a customer a color chart,” cautions Lee Levig, owner of Concrete Works in the San Francisco area. It not only may overwhelm them with choices but it may take away an advantage you may be unaware of.

At the seventh annual Concrete Decor Show in San Diego, California, world-class instructors and eager students from around the globe joined their talents and enthusiasm to breathe new life into the outdoor surroundings of the Bannister Family House, which provides a home-like environment for people with family members in long-term at the nearby hospital.

Conference attendees got a once in a lifetime opportunity to participate one on one with concrete artist and build the concrete version of the Alamo they would never forget.

Greg Hryniewicz isn’t a man who sits around and says “better luck next time.”

The general contractor to whom he submitted a proposal for a flooring job at a Tilted Kilt Pub & Eatery in White Marsh, Md., was not awarded the contract.