Stepping onto the sun-daubed cobblestone patio, the background sounds of an Italian tenor beckon you to explore further. As you round a corner, the aroma of garlic and olive oil drifts through the air from a garden table set with an olive salad, warm bread and a goblet of red wine. Has your dream come true? Is this the Tuscan villa you've dreamed of all these years? Well, no. You are not in Italy, just a backyard in Houston; and that is not cobblestone you are standing on, just concrete. You have just experienced the intoxicating potential of decorative concrete.
Beyond Houston's drab roadways, endless sidewalks and mundane driveways, there lies another world of concrete. A world where concrete is a sensuous, tactile part of your everyday environment. Surprised? That's not surprising. Concrete, that versatile building material handed down to us from antiquity, is a chameleon. If drab is required, concrete can be drab. If spectacular is required, only the limitations of the designer will dictate the limits of this materials' capabilities. Witness for example the fluid forms of the TWA Terminal in Kennedy Airport by architect Eero Saarinen. The concrete shell of the building undulates above you as a beautiful sculpture, seeming to take flight on it's own, leaving us mortals and our aircraft behind.
On a more down to earth level, designers and contractors have been delighting customers for decades with serpentine pathways, illuminated pads, textured driveways and patios, and intricately painted floors in homes across America. Welcome to the world of poured decorative concrete paving.
What Is Decorative Concrete?
The broad definition would include any additive or technique used to change the color or texture of a poured concrete slab. Remember pea gravel? Well, within this broad definition, pea gravel is decorative concrete, though this technique is no match for the sophisticated applications now available for manipulating the look and feel of concrete. Today the decorative concrete market includes: polished concrete, rocksalt finish, scoring, acid staining, coloration, stamping, and sandblasted stencil. Often many of these techniques used in combination to create the desired effect.
Originally created in Paris decades ago, decorative concrete was introduced in the United States through Sun Belt theme parks in the early 1970's using stamped patterns. The range of patterns has grown to include dozens of rock and wood effects. As the number of effects has increased, so has the variety of available colors and ingenious specialized treatments.
Decorative Concrete in Houston
In the Houston metropolitan area the popularity of decorative concrete is exploding for both indoor and outdoor applications. "Fifty percent of our work is stamped concrete and fifty percent involves stained and scored designs", says Mary Julia of Concrete Decorative Solutions, Inc., a firm specializing in elegant designs with an artistic touch. Stamped concrete involves imprinting a pattern on freshly poured concrete using modern rubber forms, and usually includes one or more colors applied to the surface of the concrete. Typical applications would include driveways, walks, patios and pool areas. A popular interior application now used in many upscale homes in the Houston area is the 'wood floor' pattern that imitates a wood plank floor, right down to the nail holes.
Scoring and acid staining are techniques particularly suited for interior decorative concrete, offering designers and contractors the best opportunities to explore endless creative possibilities. Scoring involves cutting shallow lines into the concrete slab to create interesting patterns. Within these patterns, such as a six-inch wide border cut around a room, designers will overlay stencil patterns to create a magnificent multicolored tapestry-like design. When applied by experienced contractors these designs can imitate a fine rug -- which you never have to clean. This interior application is of particular interest to many who suffer from allergies or asthma. As Julia of Creative Decorative Solutions mentioned, "What I find most important about decorative concrete are the practical aspects over the financial benefits. Living in an area prone to flooding, mold and mildew, a concrete floor is the healthy, practical choice."
Whether you are contemplating an interior or exterior application, the real key to a professional decorative concrete application is color. Oddly enough, color rather than pattern combinations controls the cost of an installation. John Viviano of Impressions in Concrete knows about color in stamped concrete designs. With 13-years of experience in decorative concrete, John admits that, "Ninety percent of our business is stamped concrete." Viviano explained that the stamped concrete technique uses a base color sprinkled on the wet concrete, combined with a 'release' medium of a complimentary color. The release chemical allows the pattern molds to be pulled from the wet concrete surface without damage to the pattern. The combination of these two colors results in the rich, complex patterns visible in a well executed stamped concrete installation. Costs will climb if color combinations require the contractor to split the project into numerous concrete pours, which increase labor costs.
Old Versus New
But what if you already have a patio or sidewalk that has been stained by life? Or are you 'too-through' with the size of that typical subdivision patio and want to enlarge? Do you have to tear it out and start over? Not necessarily, for hope springs eternal with decorative concrete techniques. As long as your existing concrete is structurally sound, you can expand it without tearing out the original by simply adding a two-inch overlay on the old section to blend in a stamped pattern with the new concrete. As Carrie Anciso of Paving Design explained, "We receive many calls from people who need repairs to existing patios, sidewalks and driveways." With over 20 years of experience, Paving Design can solve just about any concrete problem with unique solutions. Anciso is especially proud of this fact: " We work with our clients to suggest a repair method that fits their budget. Often the existing patio can be covered with a thin overlay and stamped with a decorative design, avoiding the extra expense of tearing out and replacing a four-inch thick slab."
If you have carpeting over a slab foundation, there is hope. Although a bit trickier than working with clean new concrete, old slabs often offer a more complex and richer patina when acid stained. If a consistent color is required, however, the best results come with new pours where the architect has warned the contractors ahead of time that the slab is going to be used in a decorative concrete application. This way, extra care is taken to avoid accidental spills (chemicals, coffee, soda, etc.) as the concrete cures to allow an even, blemish free application. The decorative contractor will stain and seal the slab as quickly as possible to avoid dirt or water from penetrating into the concrete.
Bottom Line
Regardless of whether you are considering an interior or exterior project, a major attraction of decorative concrete is affordability. Stamped concrete can deliver the look and feel of real stone or wood for roughly 40% less. And unlike wood or carpeting, a stamped wood plank floor will never wear out or have to be replaced, even if subjected to flood damage. Similarly, interior applications of acid stained concrete will never fade or require replacement under normal wear conditions.
Decorative concrete is truly an art form requiring specialized skills. Not every concrete contractor is capable of executing these applications. Before selecting your contractor, take the time to review what the company has done in the past and ask for references. These experienced contractors also possess the creative skills to help you with pattern and color selections, assuring you that your interior or extended outdoor living area will blend perfectly with your existing home.