The Concrete Network
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  • This existing concrete driveway was brought back to life with a concrete overlay imprinted with bamboo leaves on a stone-textured background.
  • A variety of coloring techniques were used to give the overlay a natural stone look, including an integral color and two colors of antiquing wash. The bamboo leaves were hand painted. After the coloring process was complete, the crew sealed the overlay with a hybrid acrylic-polyurethane sealant.

A gardenful of bamboo plants was the inspiration for this concrete driveway overlay, which is stamped with a pattern of bamboo leaves over a light stone texture.

“The homeowners chose to have a stamped overlay to restore their existing concrete driveway. At first, a Roman slate stamp pattern was chosen for the project. But the landscape designer was planting a lot of bamboo in the garden and jokingly asked if we could stamp the overlay with bamboo leaves. ‘Well, we actually have a bamboo stamp,’ I told her, and she was very excited to hear that,” says overlay installer Andy Espinoza of Envision Concrete.

The overlay was first stamped with a granite texture mat to blend in with a natural granite walkway that led to the front door and had a lot of gray tones with streaks of amber. “We used a variety of coloring techniques to give the overlay a natural stone look, including an integral color (smoke) and two antiquing color washes (rock gray and Arizona buff),”says Espinoza.

Before applying the overlay, Envision Concrete filled the joints in the existing concrete with a sand and epoxy mixture to avoid any reflective cracking. “After the joints were ground flush with the surface, we applied an epoxy and sand primer coat for proper adhesion of the overlay. We then poured the overlay and began stamping. We first stamped with the granite texture and then back stamped with the bamboo stamp. Back stamping was the tricky part because timing was crucial and attention to detail a must,” says Espinoza. The final touch was to hand paint the bamboo leaves and stems with a color wash to add more realism.

Products used: Epoxy primer, texture coat and integral color: Westcoat
Antiquing wash: Proline EZ-Tique
Concrete sealer: Duro Shine acrylic polyurethane sealer

Concrete contractor: Andy Espinoza
Envision Concrete, Escondido, Calif.

Landscape designer: Schnetz Landscape, Escondido

See other projects completed by this contractor:
Patio Overlay Replicates Reclaimed Lumber
Stained Concrete Modernizes an Outdoor Living Space
Natural Concrete Floors and Walls Express Understated Elegance
Concrete Microtopping Transforms an Old Horse Barn

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