Precast Concrete

Nolan King, owner of King Architectural Concrete and Construction LLC in River Falls, Wisconsin, started his own construction business at the age of 23 after graduating from college in 2001 with an engineering degree. His business focused primarily on home remodeling work.

Glass-fiber reinforced concrete (GFRC) lets you explore many aspects of design that are not possible with the more traditional precast methods. While GFRC is often used for countertops, we’ll delve into how it can be used to construct a GFRC base for an outdoor patio table.

A stupa is one of the most venerable icons in Buddhism. It's a structure steeped in symbolism, and building or maintaining one is said to bring a person close to enlightenment.

Ken Tucker, a resourceful contractor solves a potential color problem with a new process - turning tilt-up concrete panels upside down.

Perhaps it was a throwback to his old “smoking in the boy’s room” days but a homeowner in Zurich, Switzerland, yearned to have his own private smoking pavilion in his backyard. Instead of a crowded room filled with rule-breaking teenagers, he wanted a quiet, relaxing place where he could sit back and smoke.

Fiberglass has been used in the precast industry for many years. The use of resin-and-glass mats to make master-mold plugs, keeper molds to hold the shape of rubber molds, and good old-fashioned production molds is standard in the industry.

Jenkins offered a rock bench as a gesture of friendship, but the biologist wouldn’t accept it without his wife’s approval. Turns out, the wife desired a bench in the shape of a whale’s tail.

Once you have successfully cast your parts and finished them completely, you are ready to install your cast concrete range hood.

With a specific look in mind, the client approached us to create a singular look out of concrete for his kitchen island and tops, powder room sink, master bath vanities, floor and shower base, as well as vanities in the second bath, laundry and lower level wine bar.

Buildings don’t often sparkle like jewelry, but in the case of the chiller plant on the Ohio State University campus, it does just that, thanks to a highly polished RetroPlate finish and the application of dichroic glass.

Justin Brown, owner of 2Stone Designer Concrete in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, had the idea for Luna Loungers for quite a while. “It’s basically a round take on a square chair,” he says. He finally made the idea into something tangible.

In a city where each new project shines brighter than the last, an old favorite is taking on a new sparkle.

Since the cranes for a rooftop hardscape project had moved on before the precast concrete furniture was ready, a helicopter was hired to do the heavy lifting.

Hundreds of people showed up to witness the dedication of the Veterans Monument at Ken-Caryl Ranch in Ken Caryl, Colorado, which was officially presented to the community just in time for Veterans Day 2015.

“Graceful Curves.” That’s what Scott Cohen and his team at Green Scene Landscaping and Swimming Pools call a recent backyard masterpiece in Malibu, California. Cohen describes it as the ultimate entertaining backyard that has everything and then some — including a pool that makes you feel like you’re in a giant lake.

We ate. We drank. We told the truth and lied, and then admitted that we had lied. We laughed. We talked business. We talked wives. We talked ex-wives. We cried, but just a little.

Here, the Concrete Decor staff shares its top 10 favorite out-of-the-ordinary concrete creations that were featured or almost featured in the past 99 issues. The thin-shell pavilion and fabric-formed planter tied for first place, while the faux bois sconce and slippers tied for second.

A beam is a horizontal structural member that spans some open space and is supported near the ends. The beam can then support some weight placed on top of it somewhere between the end supports. A floor joist is a beam. Concrete countertops are also beams.

After an afternoon spent walking around the Rocketown campus, Jason Geiser and his team saw a great opportunity to not only enhance the area but also showcase the unlimited possibilities of concrete.

Curiosity: Stay eternally curious about better methods, collaborative opportunities and advances in sustainability.
Artistry: Remember that concrete is an artisan’s canvas.
Innovation: Employ state-of-the-art techniques to achieve a very dense and reliable concrete product.

Structures like these - with a smooth, weathered surface and a nature-inspired pattern, cast in relief - have the power to turn unused sidewalk space into a lush roadside minipark.

Most decorative concrete artisans don’t submit their work into juried art shows, but that’s the world that Thomas Lancaster is trying to ease into.

In FuTung Cheng’s view, the term “decorative concrete” fails to convey the full measure of the material’s prowess in enhancing design. Coloring, texturing, stamping or staining don’t begin to tell the whole story.