Precast Concrete

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.

“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.

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

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.

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.

Tamara Gilgenast combines passion and a veteran’s discipline and attention to detail to create works of art in concrete. Though she only started her business about four years ago after discovering The Ashby System, she already has an extensive portfolio.

Reinforce your knowledge and make structurally strong concrete countertops.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Architect Michael Arad, along with landscape architect Peter Walker, designed the memorial to honor the nearly 3,000 people who lost their lives in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks at the World Trade Center, at the Pentagon and in a field near Shanksville, Pa. The memorial also honors the six people killed in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

“The house looked a lot like a barn,” says Wells, 36, owner of Wells Concrete Works in Los Osos, California. “The clients kept some of the old architecture and appliances and fixtures inside and out. With the outside kitchen they wanted to be able to come back from the beach and entertain lots of people.”

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.

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.

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.

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

A brilliant white concrete pavilion sits proudly on the grounds of a popular tourist destination in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico. The pavilion frames three sides of a paved courtyard at La Quinta Montes Molina — a historic early-20th century mansion in Merida that now serves as a museum and venue for social events in the garden.

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.

Sisters Cindee Lundin and Chenoa Pickrain were raised on a dairy farm near Perham, Minnesota. Lundin is an expert in faux finishing and horizontal and vertical carved concrete. Pickrain is a graphic designer and photographer.

When you enter the showroom of Faciliteq, a company headquartered in Las Vegas that specializes in high-performance architectural interiors and sells Artego panels, you’ll be wowed by the artful possibilities of raised flooring.

As graceful as an acrobatic touchdown catch by Danny Abramowicz. As stunning as a Mel Blount goal-line interception. More sweeping than a Vida Blue curveball.

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.