Decorative concrete: growth and creativity

Concrete Construction, May, 2002 by Joe Nasvik

People nowadays are looking for more interesting surroundings. In the past we've considered concrete mostly for its functional properties. Now decorative contractors see it as a medium with limitless possibilities. Those involved in the creative process have the opportunity to struggle with ideas and leave their mark. Individuals and small artistic teams are rapidly coming up with new decorative finishes.

Basic and functional, concrete is the most used construction material on the planet. If the mix design is right, and worker skills are good, concrete serves our needs for a long time with little or no maintenance. It can be molded easily into any shape, has excellent fire resistance, and is capable of great strength. Using it as a decorative material takes advantage of all of its abilities and lets creative companies and workers push the limits of what concrete can be made to look like.

Unlike the production of portland cement, where records show the total amounts of cement produced, no industry-wide records are kept on the products used in the decorative industry. Despite the lack of information, however, decorative concrete is regarded as the fastest-growing segment of the concrete industry.

Plain concrete as a decorative material

Color experimentation in concrete has also revived interest in the natural color of concrete. Many specifiers now think that the color of portland cement is perfect for decorative concrete.

David Berkson, a landscape architect with the SWA Group, Laguna Beach, Calif., says that while walking he noticed that tree roots had lifted a concrete sidewalk panel. The edge of the panel had been ground to eliminate the tripping hazard. He liked the rough-ground appearance and the aggregate. From that observation came the inspiration for the Univision Office project, Los Angeles--decorative bands of plain concrete cast in a pedestrian walkway approach to the building. Working out the details with Lance Boyer, owner of Trademark Concrete, Anaheim, Calif., workers broadcast stone aggregates with a top size of 4 to 5 inches onto the concrete surface prior to finishing. Then, using terrazzo grinders, they ground the surface to expose the aggregate and produce a surface with traction. Berkson reports that the results were very pleasing. He also has specified plain gray concrete with broken glass and ceramic tile pieces broadcast on the surface--again grinding the surface afterward to produce a decorative effect.

Another use of natural-colored concrete for decorative flooring involves grinding and diamond-polishing surfaces to a high shine, eliminating the need for sealers and waxes.

Plain gray concrete is also being used for casting concrete countertops with hard-troweled finishes, diamond cutting patterns and three-dimensional relief in flatwork, special hand-tooled jointing details on slabs, and a wide variety of exposed-aggregate finishes on horizontal and vertical applications.

The colored concrete market

Park Boyer is the director of marketing for Master Builders in Cleveland. His company is entering the decorative market by introducing liquid-dispensed integral colors. He's convinced that the colored concrete market is increasing because the "plain gray" industry has done such a good job of producing durable concrete, which doesn't scale or come apart under adverse conditions. "Without good, functional concrete, there wouldn't be a decorative market," he says.

Henry Ford was once heard to say, "You can have any color you want for your car--so long as it's black!" In the past, that's been the concrete industry's attitude, too--plain concrete is good enough. Today, however, buyers favor colored finishes and anything else that creative imaginations can design and build. Increasingly they want the structural component of a building to be part of the ornamentation.

Mark Justman, director of market research for the Portland Cement Association (PCA), Skokie, Ill., states that 340 million to 400 million cubic yards of concrete were produced in the year 2000, based on the amount of portland cement shipped from production facilities (2001 information is not yet available). Boyer says that at present the integrally colored concrete market represents 1% to 1.5% of the entire concrete market nationally, or 4 million to 6 million cubic yards. He expects this could increase to 6% of the entire concrete market by 2007.

Of the total concrete produced in 2000, contractors placed approximately 22 million cubic yards of concrete in exterior hardscape areas--driveways, patios, sidewalks, and plazas (according to PCA). About 16% of this was integrally colored. In some regions of the country, however, as much as 30% of all concrete sold is colored. In those areas, if you consider all types of decorative concrete (not just integrally colored), colored concrete may already be half the hardscape market. This will inevitably increase in all areas over the coming years.

Several years ago, decorative concrete specifications were found primarily on high-end projects where more dollars were available for amenities. But today that's all changed. Building projects of all sizes and budgets get decorative concrete treatments. Andrea Cochran, who owns her own landscape architecture firm in San Francisco, says, "People often view concrete as plain and horrible. But when you add color or texture or special scoring details, they get excited. Regardless of money constraints, I first design artistic appeal into my plans; then I specify decorative finishes the client can afford."