Concrete Countertops

Concrete is starting to move toward commercial. We’ve been seeing a huge jump in commercial applications, as far as bars, nightclubs and restaurants being able to appreciate the product. And Reaching Quiet is capitalizing on this trend.

Concrete Countertop Solutions, headquartered in Scott Township, Pennsylvania, received more than 400 images in its recent photo contest that commended quality craftsmanship and creativity in projects that featured various Z-form components and products.

In this house, concrete is everywhere, from the floors to the walls to the tabletops. And it doesn't stop there, the entire home was consructed using concrete and insulated concrete forms.

When offered the chance to help customers relax with cool pool designs, these veteran design crews dove right in.

More demand means better ingredients — but are they really all that different from floor sealers?

The ideal concrete countertop sealer is a product that provides protection from stains, looks and feels like bare concrete and is safe to use.

At first glance, you’d think you were looking at a distinguished upholstered bar done in a style that many attribute to a sofa designed for the fourth earl of Chesterfield, Philip Stanhope (1694-1773), that featured the now iconic buttoned leather look.

Glass-fiber reinforced concrete (GFRC) is a highly specialized form of concrete distinguished by a cement-rich mortar containing a very high load of alkali-resistant glass fibers. The fibers are the main ingredient responsible for producing high flexural (or bending) strengths in GFRC.

Cheg Concrete awarded Best in Show in its fifth annual Circle of Distinction Design Challenge to Keelin Kennedy and her Chicago-based firm, Barefoot Design.

A closer look at one of the country’s most stylish countertop fabricators - and one of the industry’s most charismatic characters.

The project was a powder-room vanity top. It was a follow-up to a feature fireplace we did a few months earlier for the same clients. As we had won their confidence with the fireplace project and they gave me free reign on the design.

Southwestern Paint and Supply’s Hydro Guard, a sealer designed 22 years ago for secondary containment of chemicals and for sealing exterior stucco, has been discovered in recent years by decorative concrete fabricators who appreciate its thinness and praise its stain resistance and durability.

Outdoor kitchens are becoming more and more popular, and special considerations must be made in order to ensure concrete's durability, longevity and aesthetics in these applications.

The oldest methods of adding glitter to concrete are shiny aggregates - mica, glass, bits of mirror and so forth. More recent additives include silica carbide, spar, and "pixie dust" made of small glass beads.

“It’s nice … to reacquaint with and meet guys I didn’t know that had an equal or similar experience,” he says. “It has been a soul-fulfilling deal for me. In taking these tables to these very real combat heroes."

Glass-fiber reinforced concrete became a commercially viable material in the early 1970s. But it would take another decade or two before it became an economically attractive and faster alternative to the heavy and expensive materials traditionally used in commercial buildings.

Although Shelley and Guy Chomistek of Rafter C Precast Concrete are no strangers to custom concrete countertops, this recent bathroom project held some unique creative challenges.

Everyone knows you should use white cement to bring out brilliant colors in your concrete projects. What isn't so widely known is how to prevent white specks from appearing in some of those deeper colors.

Science has continued to perfect specialty compounds for mold-making. These compounds are designed to address the very specific challenges associated with very different mold applications, including architectural and decorative precasting.

Right at the start, we decided that the focal point of the kitchen would be the island. At that time we were unsure about what material we would use for the island top, so we went on a quest. We spent several days visiting virtually all of the natural stone distributors in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area.

The acceptance of glass-fiber reinforced concrete (GFRC) has inspired a current trend toward light, thin and delicate concrete furniture.

To illustrate what GFRC can do in furniture form, Jeffrey Girard of The Concrete Countertop Institute describes three projects — a table, a lounge chair and an S chair — that show off the strengths of the material.

Neither Scott Cohen, who owns The Green Scene in Northridge, Calif., nor Allen Miller, CEO and president of Concrete Revolution in Denver, Colo., have ever had a problem with alkali-silica reaction in their glass and concrete countertops.

Cheng Concrete announced the winners of its fourth annual Members’ Circle of Distinction Design Challenge at the 2008 World of Concrete show in Las Vegas last January. More than 100 entries were received for the contest from 25 states as well as Canada, Mexico, and England.