Here are a few that we did recently for a client.

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We have found that our custom hand-taped large slate pattern works well on large areas. Here are a few photos of a large slate concrete overlay on a patio in Lynchburg, VA.

We started this job by cleaning the concrete. Then we used 1/2″ wide tape to create a large random slate pattern across the entire patio and a brick header course around the border. After the pattern was applied, we sprayed a dark brown concrete mix on top of the tape. Then we removed the tape and sealed the entire patio.

Most people hear “concrete countertops” and they imagine us coming into their home to form & pour concrete right in their kitchen. There are many reasons we like to pour countertops in our shop, but the main reason is that our process is messy.

We start by forming the countertops out of a smooth material called  melamine. The concrete countertops are formed upside down, so the texture of the melamine is what gives the concrete a flat surface. After the forms are built, we caulk & seal them so that concrete cant leak out between any of the boards.

At this point we are ready to pour the concrete countertops. We start by spraying the forms with a colored concrete grout mix. This spray is what will eventually become the surface of the countertop. Once the surface has been sprayed, we make another batch of concrete that has glass fibers in the mix. This mix is called GFRC. (Glass fiber reinforced concrete). We pour the GFRC mix on top of the sprayed face coat and screed the concrete level to the top of the forms.

Once the concrete has set, we remove the forms and flip the concrete over. Then we wet polish the entire surface with progressively finer grits of diamond impregnated pads. Once we get the concrete polished to the customers desired level of sheen, we seal it to protect it from stains.

The next day , we delivered the concrete countertop to the job  site and buffed it one last time.

I took a few photos as we were building the concrete countertop for the firepit so that you can see exactly how we did it.

Here is a link to a web-version of the article.

Here is a link to a web-version of the entire magazine.

Over the years, technology has changed, and we are are able to offer a better, more environmentally friendly concrete countertop.

For years we would build molds, fill them with steel rebar, and pour traditional bagged concrete (cement, sand and gravel). After they were poured, we would flip them over and diamond polish them from 50 grit all the way up to 3000 grit. Then we would seal them with an acrylic water based sealer.

The problem was that traditional concrete was porous and susceptible to staining. The countertops would look fantastic, but they weren’t very practical for a kitchen that was used often.

In 2010 we decided to re-think the way we were pouring countertops and switched over to a product called glass fiber reinforced concrete. There are many advantages to using this type of mix, but here are the two most important ones.

#1- We started mixing our own concrete instead of buying it in bags. We did a lot of research and came up with a mix that substituted some of the portland cement with VCAS pozzolans. One great thing about pozzolans is that they are earth friendly. They may even contribute to LEED certification on a job.

Pozzolans have an important role to play in sustainable “Green” construction by increasing service life and reducing the net greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and energy consumption for a cubic yard of concrete. For every ton of cement replaced by VCAS pozzolans, there is a net reduction of about 1 ton of CO2 emissions, which means that every 21-ton truckload used is equivalent to taking three automobiles off the road. In addition, the heat saved is 4.29 million BTU’s/ton, which would heat the average home for more than a week. In addition, every ton VCAS used saves 1.5 tons of virgin raw materials needed to make a ton of cement. VCAS pozzolans represent a high value recycling opportunity. (Read More)

The most important benefit of using a pozzolan is that it makes the concrete more dense, which makes it less susceptible to staining.

#2 We now use glass fiber to reinforce the concrete instead of steel rebar.

What this means is that we can now create thinner & lighter concrete countertops than ever before.  The biggest hurdle to using traditional concrete was the weight of the countertop. We were having to put more seams in the countertops than we wanted because we weren’t able to deliver concrete countertops because they were too heavy.

Now with the addition of glass fiber, we are able to cast countertops that are thick on the edges but only 1″ thick in the middle. Less weight = less seams.

There was one last hurdle to fabricating concrete countertops, and that was the sealer. Previously we were using an acrylic water based sealer. The particular brand that we used was probably the most common standard sealer in the concrete countertop industry. It was popular because it did a good job at protecting the concrete, and it was easy to apply. The downside of the product was that if the countertop got dirty and wasn’t cleaned in a relatively short amount of time, some certain household spills would stain them.

A few years ago, we discovered a new type of sealer thanks to a tip from Concrete Zen.  Concrete Zen is a concrete countertop fabrication company in Pittsburgh, PA. They recently won an award from Fu-Tung Cheng’s Concrete Exchange for best integral sink. If you get a chance you should visit this page on Concrete Zen website. They have lots of great photos of their concrete countertops.

The new sealer  system was developed by a graffiti removal company that was modified for use on concrete countertops. This new sealer system means that our countertops are virtually stain proof. In the past couple of years of using this system, we haven’t seen any staining at all on any countertops that we have fabricated.

We are excited to be offering GFRC Concrete Countertops in Virginia. For more information and photos of concrete countertops, you can visit our Concrete Countertop page.

Photos courtesy of Garage and Beyond

I met Fernando Franco (@garageandbeyond) on Twitter a few years ago, and I was fascinated by a product that he was installing called Metallic Epoxy. I had never heard of it at the time, but I was amazed at the look Fernando could achieve with an epoxy coating.

At the time, the only decorative epoxy floors that we were offering were the seamless vinyl chip epoxy floors, and quartz floors. When I first saw a photo of one of Fernando’s metallic epoxy floors, I knew that it was a product that I wanted to offer.

Two years later, we are regularly installing metallic epoxy in Virginia. I just wanted to take the time to give Fernando credit for introducing us to a decorative epoxy product that we believe will grow to be one of our most requested concrete flooring products for basement and garage floors.

One of the most appealing aspects of metallic epoxy is that it comes it almost any color. We receive request all the time for a gray or light colored stained concrete floor, but typical acid stains only come in dark earth tone colors. Now, with metallic epoxy, we are able to provide a marbled floor in dark earth tones and bright colors.

If you want to learn more about installing decorative epoxy floors or metallic epoxy floors in Virginia, then visit one of our epoxy pages:

Metallic Epoxy by Decorative Concrete of Virginia

Vinyl Chip Epoxy by Decorative Concrete of Virginia

If you want to see some of Fernando’s photos, or if you stumbled across our site and you are in the New York area, then visit Garage and Beyond’s website.

Click here for more info about DIY Stained Concrete.

Did you know that stained concrete can look great on a broom finished exterior porch or patio?

If you do a quick Google image search for ‘stained concrete’ almost every single photograph is of a nice shiny interior floor. Even manufacturer’s stained concrete brochures or websites hardly ever have any pictures of a stained patio or stained porch. For some reason, stained concrete is often overlooked for exterior surfaces.

We just finished a project at a Smith Mountain Lake home where we applied Increte’s Walnut stain and finished it with a high solids clear sealer. We think the final project turned out great and we wanted to post a few photos so that maybe more people will consider stained concrete as an alternative to covering up existing moldy concrete porches and patios.

Click here for more info about How to Stain Concrete.

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Click here to learn more about our polished concrete project at Liberty University.

Click here to read it.

We recently completed a 40,000 square foot polished concrete project at Liberty University’s Arthur S. Demoss Learning Center.

We started during the last week of June and had the entire project complete by the last week of July. The entire flooring process was completed without stopping the work of electricians, carpenters, and painters.

Working mostly at night, we ground the concrete to remove old sealer, scored thousands of feet of lines to simulate tiles, and applied 2 different colors of stains. After the lines were scored, we stained them a dark brown color so that it would look like dark tile grout. Here are a few ‘in progress’ photos of the project

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Here are a few photos of the finished project.

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