The world's foremost resource on decorative concrete
Concrete’s appearance can be altered with stamping tools and textured mats to replicate everything from brick and tile to wood and stone.
A former computer software developer makes a career change and finds success in stamping concrete.
Wow your clients with a work of art by using nature to imprint your concrete.
Stamping mats from Concrete Artwork won’t give you the look of brick, tile or slate. Instead, they’ll allow you to offer your customers eye-catching art stamped into their patio, driveway, vertical wall or walkway.
Contractors and manufacturers share tips for buying and maintaining these essential tools.
An imprint pattern can be created with a simple rope.
Texture-Crete, manufactured by Life Deck, is a polymer-modified cementitious coating that can be applied to existing concrete surfaces as well as plywood decks. The coating creates a decorative and safe textured finish with numerous color and texture options.
Special mats and tools can be used to imprint the pattern or texture in these tight areas. Flexible (or floppy) mats typically have about half the weight of a regular mat and thus can be bent to get closer to the wall or corner.
Airspeed Skateparks’ work was featured on the cover of last year’s World of Concrete issue. Since that time they have started incorporating both color and texture into their work, and decorative concrete has become a valuable extension of their skate park design services.
Doug Carlton says he tried his darnedest to stay out of the decorative concrete market. With both his father and grandfather traditional concrete contractors, he was quite content to maintain the status quo when he started his own company back in 1987.
If you’re into stamping concrete (and who isn’t these days?), here’s a tool that should be part of your repertoire. Concrafter® LLC design stamps — the brainchild of Theo Hunsaker and his sons, Kip and Sean, out of Vernon, Ariz. — require no special forming or pouring to create decorative edges. The process is so simple and fast, the Hunsakers say, you’ll literally gain “the edge” over the competition once you master the technique.
