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The sixth annual Decorative Concrete Awards were announced recently by sponsor L. M. Scofield Co. The contest honors contractors and designers who use Scofield decorative concrete materials.
This year, for the first time, the contest was divided into six categories.
Surfacing Solutions Inc., Temecula, Calif., got a refresher on one central principle of polished concrete as the company produced some 175,000 square feet of densified concrete floor surfaces at the glittering new San Marcos High School in Southern California.
All over the country, architects who design primary and secondary schools are warming to polished concrete. Jim Ward, of Ward Scott Architecture, Tuscaloosa, Ala., is one of them. His firm’s recent project, Big Sandy Elementary School, part of the Tuscaloosa County School System, opened in 2013.
On of the advantages of landing a contract for several polishing jobs is that the later ones can improve on the minor missteps of the earlier ones. A recent pair of jobs for the Yakima, Wash., School District is a classic case in point.
The way to homeowners’ hearts is through their kids. So why not market decorative concrete to second graders?
The competition is open to contractors, architects or designers who use or specify Scofield systems. Projects are judged on skill of installation, creativity, artistic expression and how the project integrates with the overall design.
The remodel of Miami Carol City High School in Florida a couple of years ago included the installation of an outside amphitheater, topped with a stencil design of the team’s logo, a giant “Chiefs” head.
The 34,000-square-foot colored and stamped concrete courtyard that Allied Concrete Applicators poured at Saint Martin’s University in Lacey, Wash., presented a laundry list of challenges that had to be dealt with during installation.
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.
Celebrating its silver anniversary this year, Texas Bomanite has been performing high-end decorative concrete work across much of Texas since 1987.
