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Video: How to Personalize Floors
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When exploring the options for personalizing concrete floors, the
possibilities are endless. Learn from decorative concrete expert Bob Harris how to complement
concrete flooring using colored aggregate, wood inlays, brass strips, and more.
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Greetings!
Do you want to be on the cutting edge when it comes to your decorative concrete floor designs, and dare to go beyond a simple ho-hum, one-color finish? Creative contractors are always experimenting with new products and methods for embellishing their concrete floors, often in response to the desires and changing lifestyles of their customers. Here are some of the hottest trends we've been noticing at The Concrete Network, based on recent decorative concrete floor projects concrete contractors have shared with us. Hopefully, they will spark your imagination and embolden you to produce concrete floors that rise above the ordinary.
Jim Peterson,
The Concrete Network
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Use of eco-friendly stains and dyes
With the growing concerns about our environment and the impact of products containing toxic VOCs, more contractors are embracing the use of water-based stains and dyes. These products are not only safer to apply than acid stains, they also come in a broader array of colors.
See these examples:
Bowled Over by Color
Concrete Dyes Expand the Color Palette
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Heating it up
While most radiant heating systems are in-floor installations, and go
down before the concrete floor is placed, newer electric systems are now available in
ultra-thin mats that can be affixed to existing concrete
floors and then covered with a decorative overlay. More contractors are using this inconspicuous method of zoned heating to add greater comfort to concrete floors in bathrooms, bedrooms, basements and other living spaces. Learn more.
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Getting personal
More people are beginning to discover that decorative concrete is anything but cookie-cutter. It's the perfect material for anyone who wants to express their personal tastes, whether through color, pattern, or special inlays. "We are showing homeowners how concrete floors can be as unique and exquisite as the homes they are building," says Lorena Herriot, owner of Image-N-Concrete Designs. "We like to focus on smaller projects where there is a desire for a unique personalized design." See this decorative floor project, which combines stains, dyes, stencils and engraving.
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Going 3D
More movies and TV programs are going 3D, so why not concrete floors? Bob Harris of the Decorative Concrete Institute has developed an innovative way to create the illusion of depth and dimension on concrete floor artwork so that images have an accurate 3D perspective, even when
viewed from different angles. See more illusions on concrete.
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