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.
Stamping & Texturing Concrete
Concrete’s appearance can be altered with stamping tools and textured mats to replicate everything from brick and tile to wood and stone.
Series of Turnpike Stops Get Decked Out with Decorative Concrete
If Florida’s Turnpike were a rail line, the Fort Drum service plaza in the south central part of the state would be the equivalent of New York’s Grand Central Station, with glitzy interior treatments that include terrazzo floors and decorative exterior treatments and landscaping that evoke Florida’s unique natural environs.
How Did the Extreme Winter Affect Exterior Decorative Concrete?
Large parts of the United States recently experienced a brutal winter of cold temperatures and record snow and ice accumulations.
Artisan Uses Artistic Background to Find Success in Decorative Concrete
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.
How Texture Stamp Mats Changed the Decorative Concrete Game
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.
Nine Novice Concrete Stamping Mistakes to Avoid
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.
How the Family Business Turned into Passion for One Concrete Contractor
You don’t have to be born into the family business to be good at it, but in Emil Gera’s case, it sure helped. Gera’s father, also named Emil, was a union concrete finisher who would take his son along with him to help on weekend projects. Some of young Emil’s earliest memories involve concrete and a trowel.
How Matt Hine of Progressive Concrete Coatings Fell Into Concrete
Many concrete professionals who are asked how they got into the business of concrete say they sort of “fell into it.”
Concrete Business Specializes In Innovative Metallic Epoxies
For a man who was an Eastern Airline employee for years and owned his own pest control company after that, he found working with his hands, LEDs and chemicals familiar territory. So when the economy began to tank, it wasn’t that far of a stretch when Clem Carrion founded Visual Artisan in December 2007, a concrete business that specializes in concrete countertops, innovative lighting and metallic epoxies, as well as faux wood and stone.
Concrete Stencils from Universal Templates
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).
