Stamped concrete

I Love it when a plan comes together. As you can see in the photos there is a void between the patio and the shed. Well the homeowner makes at least one trip a day to his shed and this area is just begging for a sidewalk. No ordinary sidewalk either. First we ordered a load of stone and dirt. We used the dirt to fill in the low spots in the yard and used the stone for fill under the sidewalk. Then we installed some 2 x 4 forms. The concrete is then poured with color. After we get the concrete smooth and hardens just enough, we cover the sidewalk with release. Release does two things for us. It keeps the stamps from sticking to the concrete and also adds a second color into the finished product. The stamped we used is called a running bond brick stamp. Before you know it, it’s all done. The area off to the right with the artifical grass is now being used as a chipping platform. At least that was the intended use. The dog may have other ideas. Give us a call, we would Love to do this for you.

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

You may not be able to make it out in the picture on the left. It’s a mess. That is why we have jobs. We know how to fix and repair concrete. We tore out all the loose material on top of the original steps and look at the mess. On the right you can see what we did. We used a lot of elbow grease and rebar. Colored the concrete with a light gray and stamped the top with a slate texture and broomed border. We used a blue release and from what the owner tells me it’s beautiful. I can’t wait to see the final product and share it with you.

I wanted to post this picture so you can get a better view of stamped concrete. This is a large slate pattern. As you can see the texture is pretty realistic. I remember that we decided to use a light color release so as to not have very dark grout lines and gradients. Being that this is a real picture it shows you how the grout lines and indentations pick up darkness just from the environmental conditions. Hopefully this may help you make your decisions a little easier when you choose the colors for your stamped project.

I can almost with a fact tell you that stamped concrete is less expensive than pavers. I do know a little about the cost of pavers, but being that concrete is my business there may be someone out there that will tell me hogwash, this, that and the other. I just got off the phone with a paver supplier. I priced a 15 x 20 patio and 4 x 20 walkway. One 4 x 1 step and a 4 foot fire pit. Total cost of the pavers including the options of step and fire pit totals approx. $2,100. The material alone costs $4.34 sf. By the time you add in the labor, stone and sand base with the edging and nails and you would be at the higher end of an expensive stamped patio like the one you see above. Any advantages or disadvantages? I believe when it gets all said and done it all comes down to personal taste and design. I am not going to get into the paver vs. concrete war on this post. The final decision is made by you and I believe for the money you can not beat stamped concrete for the price.

What is old is new. That is said quite often for clothes or architectural designs among other things. The same can be said for concrete finishes. I don’t know how many of you have seen or even noticed concrete that looked like this. Being that I am a concrete guy and am always observing concrete finishes, I have seen it. This is stamped concrete made to look like rock salt finish. Believe it or not what they use to  float rock salt into the top of concrete. The next day moisture is applied to the concrete and the rock salt dissolves leaving all the little holes.   In the old days you would not have colored concrete and decorative saw cuts, it would of remained the natural color of concrete.  The concrete in the picture has been colored  and with release added for a secondary effect. You really can’t see it here but the saw cuts are on a diagonal to the structure it is next to. This finish works now just as it did in the good old days.

Stamped Concrete Patio

Basically it’s gray on gray. It’s a very popular color combination. It looks natural and the highlights of the dark gray release become part of the ashlar slate.  This all started with a blank slate. The owners steps came down to the Earth like so many do. They wanted a change.  This is what we came up with. I really like the way they have decorated the patio. The different colored chairs and tables contrast well with the color of the patio. That is a nice way to dress up a wooden fence too. Hanging baskets and plant stands.This stamp is our most popular and has been requested a lot. It is called Random Ashlar Slate. Thank You to my customer for sending me this picture. It really looks nice!

What is that guy doing in the picture? He is bull floating the concrete. The bull floating happens after the screeding process. This bull float is set up with a swivel handle. This allows the operator to twist the handle to get the proper pitch on the bull float. Twist it to the right and the back side goes down and allows us to push the bowl float out across the concrete. Twist to the left and the front of the bull float goes down and allows us to pull the bull float back. Another thing the swivel mechanism allows us to do is bull float further out. As you can see here the bull float smooths out the concrete and sets the cement over the stone. This will help us to finish the concrete. The bull float is a tool I would hate to do without.

Oh, It’s all glamour and glitz! Yea, give me a break. Well take a look. That brown dust you see happens on virtually every stamp job we do. The only difference you might see from one job to the next is the color of the dust. By the way, this dust has a name it’s called release. The release is a requirement for stamped concrete. For example whenever you see stamped concrete it has various colors to it.  Release is one of the colors you see. For the coloring aspect of the stamped concrete the release gives you shading effects, highlights and also color in the crevices where you push your stamp in the concrete. Take this picture for example, see the stamp being held in the lower right corner. This stamp is designed to look like stone that is “mortared” in. Those lines you see in the stamp will be pressed down into the concrete after the release has been applied. The release will stay in the crevices created by pushing the mat down into the concrete . In this case the release being brown will stay in all of those joints between the stones. Tomorrow when we remove the release from the concrete the release will stay put where I want it to, giving me the effects I am looking for. Release also works like its name implies. It allows us to push the stamps into the concrete and lets the stamps “release” without having concrete stick to them. I always explain like this, the release acts like the flour does when you are rolling out pastry.

Here it is, pouring mud. After the initial set up of forming and grading we pour the concrete. This is a stamped mix with color added. The color is a pigment we add into the ready mix truck after it arrives on site. The manufacturer designates how many pounds of pigment is added to each yard. The color in the concrete will serve as the base color for the stamped concrete. Once we begin finishing we will add a second color for highlights and gradients. The guys on the left are waiting with their cum-a-longs to spread the concrete brought in by the buggy. Once the concrete is spread we will than straight edge the concrete to the proper elevation. After screeding we will bull float the concrete. The bull floats smooths and brings the “cream” to the top. This will allow for a better stamp job.

While it is not very exciting this is something we do for every job. Initially, before we start building anything I go over the layout with the homeowner. I use marking paint and  paint the lines on the grass. The crew then removes the grass following the painted lines. For this job we nailed several pieces of flexible forms together to make the long radius the owner wanted. Then we stake out the form and confirm the location with the homeowner. Upon there approval we begin the excavation by removing the soil and replacing with stone. Once we have it all formed up and the stone graded to a depth of 4″ we are ready to pour.

We did this stamped sidewalk this week. The concrete is so fresh that the colors have not come into play yet. This is a light gray integral colored concrete with a medium/dark release. I have something to confess. I have a hard time getting back to our jobs and take a finished photo. Oh, I wish I had more time to do this, but the truth be known I don’t. Or lets put it this way, I have not made the time that I should. All the photos you see here in my blog or on my site is my work and I have gone back to these projects to get pictures. Most of my projects need  time to make the best photos and I have many more out there that I have not gone back to see the finished project. The finished project to me are the plantings, grass, pot tings and so forth. The photo above is the day after we finished pouring. The colors are still not correct. The concrete will lighten quite a bit yet and than you will be able to see the different shades and gradients. It still looks nice and the homeowner loves it, but give it a little time and it will look even nicer.

Did you know that concrete has air in it? Certain kinds of concrete have more than others. Interior concrete has air in it just from the natural churning and turning from the drum. Exterior concrete has air added to it by the concrete company. You only want so much though, because too much air can make the concrete weak and very hard to finish. Why do they put air in concrete? It’s a way to keep your concrete from freezing in the winter and popping or flaking off. You see concrete will absorb moisture and therefore when it gets below freezing the moisture will freeze in the concrete. That is where the air comes in. The air in the concrete has formed small bubbles throughout the concrete. When the water freezes in the concrete and expands the air bubbles give the ice a place to go. Any way I thought you might be interested. So the next time you do a concrete project ask the guy who is estimating your project if the concrete has air in it. If so, ask him why and see what he says.

I was looking at this photo before posting and was wondering what I could say about it. You know after a while it sometimes seems difficult to be descriptive about something that you (me) do every day. The curbing does its job so well it seems like it naturally belongs there. So it was difficult for me to come up with some words to describe it. Now, I can not imagine this bed without the concrete edging! Just think if it wasn’t there. And for that matter, what could you put there that would look this nice? The curbing basically frames the landscaped bed like a picture frame. It  show cases off your landscape. Not only does it show case your landscaping, but the fact that it has a function other than its looks is a huge bonus. It keeps out the grass, keeps the mulch in your bed, and cuts down on your weed whacking time. Oh, and one more thing, it’s concrete so you don’t have to mess with it after I put it in. It stays there and looks good year after year after year.

That’s a question I run into a lot. It is fairly hard to explain fully to my customers. Technically both are stamped concrete with a twist. Texture is accomplished using mats with just texture as you see here. There are several textures. This one is a slate texture. And then there are different slate textures. This just happens to be the one I have. When I say texture that is it, just texture. The lines or joints in the concrete are created by hand either by hand jointing as in this picture or saw cutting.

Stamped concrete is technically the same, it gives you texture and the joints all at once. In other words the texture and joint patterns are built in the stamp whereas the texture stamp is texture alone, no joints. With stamping you get patterns  like brick, stone, rocks and so forth.  So I hope you can understand. Texture is just texture with the joints custom-ally installed by me. Stamped gives you pattern and texture.

Let me tell you one advantage to texture. You control the joints. Depending on the size of the area you may not want a busy pattern that is offered by stamping. Therefore you have an option and that option is texture with the joints or sizes of the squares determined by you. Hopefully this will help you understand some of your options in choosing the finish of you concrete project.

It does not matter the time of year, Spring, Summer, Fall or Winter. We can pour your concrete at anytime of year. Of Course the Winter months are very difficult with the freezing temperatures and all.  But the Winter still does not stop us from doing your project. We use insulated concrete blankets in the Winter. Now the Summer months here in Virginia can get awful hot and you don’t want your concrete real hot when we pour it. So in the Summer we use ice mixed in the concrete, keeping the temperature down a bit. Spring and Fall generally bring rain and that is when we use plastic to keep the rain from altering your finish. So it does not matter when you do your concrete project. Where there is a will there is a way. Time is a wasting. Let’s get it done. The picture above is an Ashlar Slate Concrete Stamp, light gray in color with a combination of exposed aggregate Give us a call we will get it done for you no matter what time of year it is.