About Stamped Concrete
Sometimes termed pressed or patterned concrete, stamped concrete is created by imprinting dies on the concrete while it is sufficiently plastic. This, combined with other finishing techniques such as concrete colouring and staining, can create a huge variety of effects that wouldn’t otherwise be possible. Imitation stone, slate, and brick are common, but it is possible to create any number of other unique textures with custom stamps and specialist colouring. Stamping and texturing can be applied to most concrete, allowing effects like walls and stairs stamped vertically to give the appearance of monolithic stone. CementWright offers stamped concrete at an artisan’s level of skill. We will work with you to augment and execute your idea well.
How To create Stamped and Textured Concrete
Stamping concrete well requires a lot of planning and finesse. As with all cement work, the base prep, rebar, and concrete placement are important to the long term beauty of the slab. Layout is if anything more important than with more standard concrete. Good layout makes a great stamped pad; bad layout distracts from good stamped concrete. We use modular forms which allow us to create clean curves and other lines easily and economically.
Skill and Planning are key to Stamping concrete
Additional labour, skill and attention to detail are required in the finishing process, as there is a very narrow window of time where concrete can be stamped well without affecting its appearance or durability. Stamping concrete too early can cause surface defects such as undue unevenness or delamination over time; stamping late can lead to surface cracking and incomplete imprinting of the concrete. Tricks like prestamping with textured skins help eliminate the latter issue. CementWright employs specialist concrete mixes, additives such as set accelerators, retarders, and techniques such as split loads and early morning cool weather concrete pours to allow ourselves time to do the concrete stamping well.
Equipment is Essential to a good stamping project
Careful preparation makes doing a good job feasible, but there is still no substitute for good tooling in the stamping process. Textured oversized shoes help prevent dents in the concrete from walking on the mats during stamping, and stamping pads help hit the imprinting mat evenly to transfer texture to the concrete. Most stamping is done with flexible polyurethane rubber mats, but there are other options such as rollers which are also used. Using a big enough set of stamp mats for the pour is really important to minimize drift of the stamping pattern. A good rule is to have enough of the pattern to span the widest portion of the slab plus one. Stamps are quite expensive to rent or buy, so a lot of contractors try to get by with insufficient stamps. This leads to an underwhelming product. CementWright maintains a good selection of different concrete stamps in full sets to avoid this.
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Colour, visual effects, and detailing the stamped concrete
Detailing the stamped concrete is what gives the stamped concrete visual effect. Squeeze up from between stamps is rolled into the pad while still plastic, or ground out after and recoloured. This makes the surface more realistic. The surface is often “antiqued”, which provides contrasting colour accents to the pad. Antiquing can be done during the stamping process or afterwards, depending on the design of the pour; this should be distinguished from a stain. We can also re-antique, recolour, and seal sound faded concrete to protect it and bring back the shine.
The concrete for a stamped pad is often coloured integrally. This helps disguise minor chips and damage that may be sustained later. The integral colour can be further enhanced with a few tones of colour hardener for added realism of the stamped pattern. Other design options include staining (ask for acid stain or a penetrating dye- topical coatings wear off) the stamped concrete to vary the colour and geometric sawcuts with coloured grout or caulking. Exterior and interior floors can be stamped seamlessly, cut, stained and grouted to give the appearance of tile with substantial durability advantages. Unique designs are possible by combining stamped concrete with colour that are only limited by imagination.
Care of stamped and textured concrete
Sealing and regular maintenance is especially important to retaining the subtle colouration and effects done to the stamped concrete. We provide our stamped concrete with a light acid wash to clean any loose material left from the stamping process. This provides a good bond to the sealer; we use a high gloss dual-acting sealer for the final finish. We can provide ongoing maintenance to the concrete (which also carries an extended warranty), but are also willing to teach you how to do it yourself.
CementWright provides a full suite of stamped concrete services in the central Alberta area. We can do the entire project, from design, excavation and base preparation through to cleanup and reseeding if required. We have a knack for artistic design and are excited to see what we can create with you. Please take a look around our site to learn more and then contact us to get started.