The world's foremost resource on decorative concrete
Recently an architect who was writing the polished concrete specification for a school district contacted me when he recognized that he did not know enough. The good news is that he asked for help in crafting an informative and realistic specification that allows educated bids with room for profit.
ColorJuice’s new formula combines nanopigments with a lithium-silicate hardener and other proprietary hardening products to lock the color into the slab permanently, even when exposed to ultraviolet light.
The polished concrete industry has seen growth, especially during the past three years, that is both encouraging and depressing. Whenever one has been part of an industry since its birth, he tends to be a little territorial. So, when change occurs, especially if it’s not in one’s own best interest, one often gets protective and possibly a little jaded. This doesn’t have to happen.
For years, officials with the Clark County Department of Aviation knew Terminal 1 at the McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas was in need of a fresh concrete overlay job. Wide, deep expansion joints placed long ago posed dangers for travelers, and the airport was paying for it.
Pete Johnson, who founded the U.K. division of the stone-effect coating system manufacturer StoneCoat, traveled to Sin City from his home in Manchester, England, last November for a project inspired by the natural stone colors found in Nevada.
Marketing activities exist in multiple forms. In 1960, marketer E. Jerome McCarthy identified four distinctive types of marketing, often referred to as the “four P’s”: product, price, place and promotion. This marketing mix provides a standard framework for a decorative concrete professional to communicate and deliver lasting value to customers.
The choice you have is between a liquid release agent and a dry-powder antique release. Both products are similar in function — however, the application technique is completely different for each. This results in a different final look as well.
There are as many variables in manufacturing diamond tooling as there are diamond manufacturers. So which specific variables should you concern yourself with and why?
As high-performance coatings become more commonplace in decorative applications, so do the problems associated with using them. Unlike acrylic sealers, high-performance coatings (polyurethane, epoxy, polyaspartic and polyurea) are not as forgiving when it comes to application, or more specifically, reapplication.
The president of Artistic Concrete Surfaces, an award-winning company in Olathe, Kan., Mike Denny says that his commitment to quality sometimes drags on the business. “I’d rather lose money on a job instead of doing a job that didn’t look right. I have a good reputation for making sure everything is done above and beyond what people expect."
