Stamping & Texturing Concrete

We all know there are times when you just can’t get around stamping in cold weather. Here are some helpful hints.

In this world, there are two types of concrete: concrete that’s flat, gray and utilitarian, and concrete that’s been shaped, colored and/or textured — and is considered art.

Novice stampers are prone to making a few common mistakes. Some have to do with planning the job. Others have to do with misunderstanding the materials, while still others are simply a lack of familiarity with manipulating stamps and skins. Here’s an opportunity to learn the easy way.

Many concrete professionals who are asked how they got into the business of concrete say they sort of “fell into it.”

A beach house floor Ralston’s company recently refurbished in Monterey Bay, Calif. The floor’s crown jewel from a decorative standpoint is a pattern created when randomly placed seaweed stamps, made from real seaweed, were laid in a 3/8-inch fast-setting overlay.

San Diego County is known far and wide for its beautiful weather, interesting people and endless summer atmosphere. So it was with great anticipation when San Diego was picked as the site for the 2016 Concrete Decor Show Sept. 25-29 that it was destined to be one showstopper of a show. And all indications point to that premonition coming true.

When it comes to texture skins, flexibility is often appreciated, and Brickform LLC aims to please.

With its 1,149-foot “space needle,” the Stratosphere Casino, Hotel & Tower is a Las Vegas landmark. When its owners, American Casino & Entertainment Properties LLC, remodeled it inside and out in fall 2012, they asked Owen Ondrisko, of Stampco Concrete, Henderson, Nevada, to design landscaping and concrete for the approaches to the building.

After teaching stamping classes in Las Vegas for 14 years, Gerry Sadleir noticed that most of his students weren’t successful at ¼-inch stamping unless they had a lot of concrete experience.

When Bob McDaid began making plans to build iPlay America, his 115,000-square-foot indoor family amusement park in Freehold, N.J., he envisioned flooring to complement two very different settings.

Being next door to the Artistry in Concrete competition at the World of Concrete 2015, Steven Ochs knew he had to bring his A game to the Smith Paint Products booth. Ochs, a decorative concrete artisan and chairman of the department of art and design for Southern Arkansas University, presented several designs to the Brunners, owners of the family-run business.

Stamping concrete in hot weather requires advanced planning and close attention. Here, industry pro George Lee shares his secrets for a successful outcome.

Kevin Brown is a soft-spoken, humble-yet-accomplished man who got into the business of concrete work through his family. As he describes it, he knew from a young age that he wanted to follow in the family footsteps.

Decorative concrete wizard Tom Ralston is a familiar name to Concrete Decor readers for his elaborate, multifaceted homes and backyards. But there’s another side to Ralston’s work: the wildly creative stuff that’s almost pure fun.

Three unique looks achieved by seasoned veterans with stamping and texturing tools - an authentic travertine tile look, a cobblestone finish and a patio with hand-tooled brick.

The 500,000 square feet of stamped concrete pathways and patios at the new Italian theme park Rainbow MagicLand look like no place else on Earth.

Robert Salinas, 58, jokes that he has 50 years of concrete experience. That’s not too far off from the truth, because as a youngster he recalls helping to place concrete for the pool company his uncle and father worked at in San Antonio, Texas.

Meet a few of the newest in texture mats and stamping tools for concrete.

Step-by-step instructions and useful tips from people in the industry who have experimented enough to know what works.

This stamping won't warm your feet, but it will fill your bank account in the winter months. Here are some tips to get your cold weather concrete stamping jobs going.

Radial stamps, multipiece tools that create circular and curved patterns, have earned stamp manufacturers a round of applause.

Passion, precision, artistry and creativity were all on display at the L. M. Scofield Co. ninth annual Decorative Concrete Awards ceremony. Scofield enlists professionals from the concrete industry to judge submissions based on skill of installation, artistic expression and integration with the overall design intent.