The Chemistry Of Concrete

By Author: concrete coatings
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Decorative concrete has slowly become one of the best ways for construction workers, designers, and homeowners to add something special to the interior and exterior of a home. With the help of a decorative concrete contractor, this new trend can become a reality for you. There are specific techniques which must be completed in a step-by-step fashion when you are applying decorative concrete, so hiring a professional concrete company is imperative.

With a concrete company, you will work directly with a decorative concrete contractor who will explain the details about the processes involved in each of the different methods of decorative concrete including an aggregate effect, a stamped concrete overlay, different patterns, textures, finishes, and colors. By hiring a professional concrete company you will be provided with the skills and training needed for the best decorative concrete. A decorative concrete contractor will ...
... demonstrate how the exterior of your home can be enhanced by stencilled as well as stamped patterns.

The application of stencilling requires first placing a paper stencil pattern on the fresh concrete and then embedding the stencil into the surface ever so slightly with a long-handle roller. Once this has been done, the working crew will throw the color hardener into the surface whilst it is being worked upon because this will create additional wear resistance. Finally, the textured roller is applied to create the appearance of tile, stone, or brick. After the surface has hardened enough to endure walking traffic, the stencils are removed and the grout lines are left. If the stencils are embedded too deeply in the concrete defects will be created when they are removed and this will require additional hand-retouching. It is equally important that the form-work upon which the stencils are applied is perfectly square.

When you are utilizing the decorative processes of stamping as well as texturing, a decorative concrete contractor can explain the additional manners in which you can imprint and integrate colored concreted or use a color hardener which comes in a shake-on form. With stamping, you would use metal or plastic tools which will leave grooves in the concrete. A professional concrete company can also integrate contraction joints as part of your selected pattern. The mats for stamping will leave a shallower pattern and the texture produced will resemble that of stone, slate, brick, cobbles, or other materials. A professional concrete company can use mat-texture skins to create free-flowing textures on your concrete producing a pattern that is treated with a release agent to aid the easy removal of the mats whilst not disturbing the texture which has been imprinted.

In order to thoroughly understand how these processes work, you need to understand the chemistry behind concrete. Given this, hiring a professional concrete company and a decorative concrete contractor will help give you the background and skills needed to perfect your concrete job.