Color hardener offers many distinctive and custom colors to the concrete finisher. Here we will explore how to use color hardeners to color your concrete. Use of various colors produce a more two-dimensional (or realistic) look. They help to blend concrete to the environment or distinguish it from other construction materials. Colors on concrete can enhance the overall aesthetic. They can also, without anyone knowing it, soothe the transition from light to shaded areas on a slab.
On this particular job the use of three different color hardeners, terra cotta, sun-baked clay, and beige cream were used to give the concrete a natural stone look and a less distinct shadow-line that the house casts on the slab during most of the day. By using terra cotta, a darker color hardener in the heavily sunlit areas but transitioning to sun-baked clay, a light color in the shadow area, the end result is a surface that is easier on the eyes and never too dark in a shaded corner. The contractor used beige cream across the slab for greater depth of color. Treating the concrete with a color release, #350 – desert tan, also happened during the process. To further distinguish it with natural colors and to further blend the colors together, the contractor did this before skinning. The dessert tan also makes the veining from the skins consistent across the slab.
— Lee Levig, Fairfield, CA
