Stamping & Texturing Concrete

Many years in the making and rigorously reviewed by dozens of experts in the field, the much-anticipated 310R-13 Guide to Decorative Concrete was officially published by the American Concrete Institute in December 2013.

Imagine you own a company that supplies concrete contractors with the tools for their trade. You offer a product that has been the industry standard for decades and is essential to most contractors in your industry. Your company sells a lot of them and they are a good source of income. Your company is a recognized industry leader as a provider of the product.

A total of 42 awards were presented at the 2017 Sundek Awards Banquet during the company’s 33rd annual convention in Hilton Fort Worth earlier this year.

The lifestyle center addition to the Greenwood Park Mall on U.S. Highway 31 North in Greenwood was completed in spring 2008. The project, which involved more than 1,000 cubic yards of concrete, is significant because it reflects the growing use of concrete in Indiana’s public spaces.

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

Universal Templates manufactures plastic adhesive backed templates/stencils for the decorative concrete industry. The company has 15 different patterns, which can be purchased in 250 sq. ft. rolls (3 ft. wide x 84 ft. long) or in 500 sq. ft. rolls (3 ft. wide x 168 ft. long).

Plastic stencils are generally designed for renovation work, such as overlay or spray applications and they are difficult to float in new concrete applications, This is why paper stencils are often the choice for fresh concrete pours.

Behind every successful slab of stamped concrete is an accumulation of effort by you (the decorative concrete artist) and your local ready-mix provider. If one participant falls short the project becomes compromised, maybe not to the point of being unsalvageable but still to where it does not meet the goal of most professionals.

Like any commercial building, the Charlotte Convention Center has a set of emergency exits that lead to the outside. However, the Convention Center had a unique problem in that its doors led towards the tracks for the Charlotte Light Rail.

Steve VandeWater, 51, was a Fine Arts major at Indiana University Bloomington, studying sculpture, drawing and printmaking. This artistic background informs his approach to concrete and also gives him skill and success with different styles and techniques.

For a guy who started from the bottom up, Jesse Escalera has managed to make a name for himself over the years through his backyard masterpieces.

Surface preparation is a commonly used term in the decorative concrete industry. An argument can be made that it might even just be the most used term in the industry. We hear or read about it most often when dealing with overlays and stains. Grind, scarify, acid etch, etc.

When the U.S. General Services Administration decided to renovate the federal office building at 50 United Nations Plaza in downtown San Francisco for its own use, officials set out to make the building a model of environmental sustainability.

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

Have you ever been in the process of completing or had just completed what to you was an amazing architectural concrete project only to be told by your client:
“It’s not what I was expecting.”
“Meh! It looks kind of ‘blah.’ I thought the color would ‘pop’ more.”
“I don’t like it.”

This top-to-bottom (well, really bottom-to-top) overlay recipe is great for putting down a distinctive design, such as this swordfish.

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.

Before texture stamping, stamping professionals were limited to interlocking stamp patterns and all of the frustration and anxiety that accompany them. Flash forward to 2014, and numerous opportunities exist to showcase your decorative talent, thanks to the many variations of texture stamp tools.

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

The decorative concrete business often can follow a roller-coaster trajectory, with ups and downs that can challenge the stomach.

Fortunately for David Edwards and his 30-year-old company Edwards Concrete, a profitable relationship with Florida’s amusement and theme parks has played an integral role in the ride.

With the housing market in recovery, business is looking up for concrete contractors involved with stamping and texturing.

However, it's not just the residential market that’s driving stamping. Thanks to its low price compared with other outdoor options, more commercial developers are turning to stamped concrete.

At the seventh annual Concrete Decor Show in San Diego, California, world-class instructors and eager students from around the globe joined their talents and enthusiasm to breathe new life into the outdoor surroundings of the Bannister Family House, which provides a home-like environment for people with family members in long-term at the nearby hospital.

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.