Concrete Finish

No matter what the surface is – smooth or textured, concrete finish would help you get the choice of your surface. Concrete finish is a mixture of a paste of Portland cement and water and aggregates. Hydration which is a chemical reaction helps the paste to harden. The result is a rock like mass that is known as concrete finish which is durable, strong and cost effective for application on walkways, floors, driveways and patios.

Concrete floors can be found almost everywhere – from residential complexes to high rise towers to parking basements. Many a times these concrete floors are covered with vinyl, flooring materials or carpets. Today a popular alternative is the concrete finish floors that are decorative and functional as well. Plus concrete can be treated with stains and comes in numerous textures with patterns that resemble natural surfaces like marble or wood planks. Thus, the concrete finish floors are a combination of creativeness and exquisiteness along with stability and cost effectiveness.

The concrete finish surface life expectancy is much higher than other flooring materials like carpet, vinyl, etc. Carpets can tear, get stained or can get damaged by usual wear. Plus carpets attract a lot of dust particles and many people are allergic to dust that is held by carpet fibres. Other flooring materials need to be replaces in a few years mostly due to durability reasons. 

Concrete finish surfaces can be decorated and textured and are very easy to maintain. Concrete finish surfaces can be simple coloured slabs or could match architectural features or the landscape. Plus it also can be done in a way that it would resemble natural materials like slate, granite or marble with beautiful subtle colour shifts.

Concrete finish surfaces can be decorated by several different methods. All treatments mentioned in this article are permanent methods and have high life spans.
Chemical Staining: Chemical staining is formulated in a way that they would react with the concretes lime content. The colour lightly merges with the surface area. The con of this method is that the result is not predictable due to lime leaching, surface texture, weathering or reaction with other chemicals. Also the full effect of colour will not be seen until all waxes and sealers are applied to the concrete finish surface.

Scoring: Scoring are shallow-cuts that can be made in existing concrete finish surfaces to simply create geometric designs and patterns to separate colours. Standard circular saw blades are used to make cuts which are about 1/8" deep.

Integrally Colour Concrete Finish: Colour can be added to concrete during the initial process of mixing. This produces consistent tinting on the full slab. The colorant may be either liquid or powder. Admixtures are added to the mixture to increase plasticity and workability.
Concrete Stamping: Rigid patters are imprinted on the concrete finish surface to outline textures of brick, stone, wood, slate, etc. into the casted concrete surface. The imprinting tools range in sizes.

Coloured hardeners: Colour hardeners in powder form consist of ground coloured cementations which are sprinkled over freshly placed concrete finish surface. Moisture from the concrete keeps mixing with the powder to stimulate and bond it. This creates a denser and harder concrete finish surface. The use of coloured hardeners is also recommended for surface durability.

However the only limitation to using concrete finish floors is that not everyone would like to idea of using it. Some people like soft coverings like carpet and vinyl due to the underfoot warmth, sound deflection, shattering of objects that are dropped or child safety who may crawl or fall on the surface. Secondly the colour result cannot be guarantees until the end of the process.