Concrete Decor's Current Articles

Many people get into the construction trades because of the ongoing challenge of building something new. Imagine the thrill of helping to build a whole new city — in 14 weeks.

The atmosphere was inviting and the modest but eager crowd engaged at the 2019 Concrete Decor Show in Arlington, Texas, Oct. 28-31. Many of those who attended reported it was a great time to reconnect with old friends, establish new contacts, discover products and tools, and witness some of the industry’s elite — such as Troy Lemon, Emil Gera, Rick Lobdell, Cindee Lundin and Jake Brady — lead workshops on the convention floor.

By no means an inclusive list of interesting finds, there was plenty to explore at the 2019 Concrete Decor Show at the Arlington Convention Center in the shape of products and tools.

Let’s start at the beginning: What is GFRC, what are its benefits and what are its downsides? GFRC stands for glass-fiber reinforced concrete. The GFRC I use is a composite of portland cement, silica sand, Forton VF-774 , Liquefaction Compound, Vitro Minerals VCAS-micronHS, water, and alkali-resistant chopped glass-fiber strands.

Your product is valuable. You know it. You hope your customers know it. But how can you be sure? How can you ensure that your product benefits your customers and, in so doing, benefits your company?

ConScape Inc., a commercial, architectural and decorative concrete firm in Fort Worth, Texas, seemed like a godsend to the parishioners. With decorative concrete as its intervention, the company transformed part of the church’s landscape from a tired terrain into a radiant and peaceful panorama.

Over the years, wear and tear got the best of the carpet in this furniture store and the folks at Roche-Bobois decided it was time for a new look: Polished Concrete.

Volunteers from the ASCC Decorative Concrete Council traveled to Hanson, Ky. to work on the hardscape of what is to become a therapeutic garden at the Ballard Western Kentucky Veterans Center. Three students from the Concrete Industry Management program at Middle Tennessee State University also assisted on the project.

Mike Miller reminicses about the times he was asked to help complete a complex concrete projects from his past.

What is ground and polished concrete? How do we determine the difference between a topical-polished floor, in which a product has been applied to the floor to seal it, and a mechanical polish with bonded abrasives?

Before texture stamping, stamping professionals were limited to interlocking stamp patterns and all of the frustration and anxiety that accompany them. Flash forward to 2014, and numerous opportunities exist to showcase your decorative talent, thanks to the many variations of texture stamp tools.

At the Robusta Espresso Bar in Manhattan’s financial district, the dynamism of the high-voltage, high-visibility counter design concept is no caffeine-induced illusion.

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.

For Scott Cohen, owner of The Green Scene Landscaping and Pools in Northridge, Calif., creating spectacular, outdoor entertainment and leisure spaces is second nature, but many of his jobs require much more than bringing a vision to life.

Does size matter in the world of polished concrete? I have heard the arguments on both sides for why smaller or larger polishing machines are better, but ultimately it depends.

Situated in the Otowa district of Tokyo’s Bunkyo ward, the Modelia Days apartment building is very close to the Gokokuji temple, which was established in the Edo era (1603-1868) as a place of prayer for members of the shogunate, a feudal regime of Japan.

After teaching stamping classes in Las Vegas for 14 years, Gerry Sadleir noticed that most of his students weren’t successful at ¼-inch stamping unless they had a lot of concrete experience.

The project was a lot simpler than the one Baltz ended up with. “I was first approached to do some hardscape and subbase for a network of brick or paver stone terraces,” he recalls. “The connecting walkways were going to be asphalt.” He can’t hide the disdain in his voice when he makes that last statement.