Do you want a spot for your cat or dog to lay? How about a nice border to go around your exotic plants? We can do that for you. We installed the edging to border the pavers, thereby keeping the pavers in place and keeping the mulch in the bed where it belongs. Oh, and it’s kind of hard to talk about the sitting bench on the wall with such a beautiful cat there. She just loves the smooth top and I would guess that the bench might be a little warmer than the air giving her a nice warm spot to lay. We have a myriad of colors to choose from for your concrete. We build your sitting wall to any shape, size or color you want.  This isn’t something store bought. It is all built by hand to your specific requirements  and finishes. Whether you choose pavers or concrete for your patio you can add to it with a sitting wall or concrete edging.

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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.

When I write my blogs I get carried away thinking that you have been reading my earlier posts. Well in most circumstances I do not think that is the case. Silly me for thinking that way.

So let me start out by explaning to you what we are illustrating. The sitting wall you see is 100% concrete. We begin by excavating below the frost line. Then,  the wall is formed up with plywood.  A bunch of re- bar is installed,  then the wall gets poured. The bench top is poured along with the wall using a color that the owner has chosen. How do you like the chipped stone edge? The edge is created with a form liner.  A molded piece is installed along the forms before pouring the concrete to create this. Let me mention an important step here and it may be the most important thing you do if you decide to attempt this yourself. Stripping the forms. The bench top is cantilevered over the wall. This is a very weak point in the concrete when the concrete is fresh. By fresh, I mean the concrete is not at full strength yet. It takes approx. 30 days for concrete to reach its full strength. Also when stripping the forms you want to make sure the forms actually “fall” or drop to the ground below. You do not want to apply any upward pressure on the cantilever while stripping the forms. It can create a crack. If it happens you don’t have to worry about the cantilever falling off, it will just be a visual thing.

The next step after stripping the forms is to install the rocks. My rocks are concrete and I apply them with a trowel. The concrete is mixed in a five gallon bucket and is plastic enough to apply at approx. 3/4 to  inch thick. After it hardens to a certain point I then carve the rocks to there shape. Now the fun begins! Transforming the gray concrete into colored stones.

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!