Vertical & Carved Concrete

Nick Carosi III of Arban & Carosi Inc. brings up an intriguing point when talking about exposed aggregate on vertical surfaces — what if you’re pouring an L-shaped wall piece? Since gravity’s effect on the settling aggregate is essential to the process, how does a contractor make that work?

Adrian Gascon has reinvented himself personally and professionally a few times. He sold cars and played and coached baseball and basketball, then through luck and hard work began fabricating top-secret planes for the government, making $20 an hour at 20 years old.

What’s old often becomes new again, and in the case of ICF (insulated concrete forms) construction, many people feel it’s not only ready for a rebirth but a healthy adolescence, as well.

Their still-in-progress project includes a number of concrete features inside the home, the centerpiece being a cast-in-place, carved, stamped GFRC staircase that resembles rock and leads into the basement-level man cave, graced by a sun-and-clouds water feature on the wall next to the staircase.

Florida’s Miami Beach is a part of the country known for its high real estate prices, but the penthouse condominium sales price of $60 million for the Faena House Saxony Condo set a new high.

When Brian Graham opened Hard Rock Developments Inc. in Calgary in 2000, he wanted the concrete tool and supply shop to be different from your standard concrete store. “My Dad was a concrete contractor, so when I was growing up, I went with him to concrete supply stores pretty often,” he says. anyone, including a concrete contractor.”

As demand for vertical concrete work in the residential sector expands, more decorative concrete contractors and artisans are taking on vertical projects with the goal of achieving creative looks.

In the world of theming, epoxy is still an underutilized tool for creating levels of detail and realism second to none. For example, Polygem Inc. has spent years developing its 307 series of epoxy among others that are custom-formulated for this exact type of work.

Everything about the Brawl in the Fall at the 2016 Concrete Decor Show in San Diego was hot, hot, hot— from the record-breaking 100+ degree heat to the sizzling entries that shaped up in the outside lot during show time.

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.

Decorative shotcrete is catching on, and as with any decorative concrete technique, there’s a learning curve. Here, we cover mix design, prep work and more.

When Troy Lemon the concrete sculptor met up with Troy Wolfiss the home builder, a fireplace of great proportions ensued. Wolfiss, owner of Artisan Craft Homes, busily designed his new home which would be part of the Home Builders Association of Greater Grand Rapids’ Spring Parade of Homes.

Whether you're working on a decorative wall in a backyard or the exterior walls of a 15-story building, consider stencils for vertical surfaces.

While hand-mudding vertical concrete projects is the preferred method for getting a working surface ready to be shaped and carved, for bigger jobs it’s not necessarily efficient.

Enter a spray system.

An Australian company that specializes in polished concrete and seamless flooring and wall solutions, Honestone, recently completed restoration to give the church new life. The church, which has been affectionally called “Barneys,” enjoyed flooring, a renewed altar area, stairs and a stunning curved wall by Honestone.

“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.

Nathan Giffin's Vertical Artisans hosted its second weeklong teraining at its West Coast Training Center, an underground "hobbit house" in Lorane, Ore.

The language barrier was the least of the obstacles a team of two professors and a student from Southern Arkansas University had to overcome during a weeklong trip to Cuba last November for an art project with the University of Artemisa. The saga began with a lack of supplies and ended with the death of Fidel Castro the night before the Americans left.

Most cellars consist of pretty straightforward temperature control and wine-racking systems but Nathan Giffin, owner of Creative Rock Forming and the creative powerhouse behind a recent wine cellar project in Naperville, Ill., has rather a different idea of what a private wine cellar can be.

Unlike God almighty who, according to the Bible, created the world, its heavens and all forms of life in six days, the best Troy Lemon and his mortal crew could do was hand-form and carve a concrete replica of the moon in four.

Ellie Ellis of Elite Artistry LLC in Happy Valley, Oregon, and Eva Gallant of Y-Knot Creations LLC in Hurst, Texas, share a bond stronger than the one-ton concrete art piece they produced together in Indianapolis at the Concrete Decor Show.

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.

The primary design focus of the five year renovation of the J. Paul Getty Museum was to modernize the existing museum, which is a replica of a Roman villa buried in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and breath new life using decorative concrete.