For years, architects, interior designers and homeowners have been adding value and design appeal to the exterior of their buildings and homes with decorative concrete. But now, the same process is working on the building's interior with new techniques, colours and processes that add a beautiful decorative surface to long-lasting concrete.

With a little imagination and a hint of colour, decorative concrete adds elegance to any interior. It can take on the look of marble, slate or stones, or be coloured and cut in decorative styles. The appeal for designers is that concrete is a malleable product that can take on nearly any shape or colour.

Get Ready

Preparation is 99 per cent of the job. If you leave out one step, you risk failures. Polymer-modified concrete will not bond to a concrete sur­face unless you remove 100 per cent of any contaminants. The best method is to grind with a diamond grinding system or to shot blast. These systems open up the pores of the concrete for maximum bonding ability. Next, you need to vacuum or wash the concrete until it is dust free. Depending on the concrete's condition, you may need to repair cracks and defects. This part is crucial — it separates the contractors who are in it for a quick buck from the ones that have the client's best inter­est at hand. Once preparation is complete you need to protect the sur­rounding environment with tape poly and paper. Polymer-modified con­crete binds to and stains everything it comes into contact with.

Get Set

Texturing concrete is an art in itself. Normal cement-finishing practices get thrown out the window. A concretist applies polymer-modified con­crete systems and uses a whole new technique of trawling concrete. It's all about style, design and texture. Once the floor is laid, you should not be able to see how it was applied. No repeating trawl lines. Everything should look consistent and natural.

There are several ways to colour concrete. Integral colour is the base and then you add dyes and stain to achieve your highlights. Integrally colouring concrete means adding dried colour pigments to the mixed con­crete at batch time. Dyes and stains are added after concrete hardens, approximately 24 hours after being poured and placed. They are sprayed onto the concrete surface, brushed in and resprayed to hide brush marks. The dyes or stains will sit more in the low-lying areas and less in the high areas, which creates a modeled look with different tones. The porous ness of the concrete surface will affect the look and the amount of stain to the already beautiful product. Concrete can take on the look of limestone or cobblestone thanks to stamping and embossing techniques available today. With a little imagination and a hint of colour, decorative concrete adds elegance to any interior. It can take on the look of marble, slate or stones, or be colored and cut in decorative styles. The appeal for designers is that concrete is a malleable product that can take on nearly any shape or colour.

Go For It

Concrete is a solution for designers who want to create a theme. One designer contacted my company to create a floor that looked like someone had skied through it. This was no easy task to achieve. This designer researched all other flooring products, but none could meet their criteria and look realistic. Concrete was the only hope. We were able to design the ski pattern and apply this design to the existing concrete floor. Our next step was to pour polymer-modified concrete at a quarter-inch thickness throughout the front entrance. After the concrete hardened, we pulled the forms for the ski design, painted the bottom of the ski track white and filled the quarter-inch track with clear epoxy. The front entrance of Legends Resort in Whistler looks like someone has skied through its concrete floor. This problem for the designer was solved.

Although it sounds easy and looks elegant, concrete is not for the weak at heart. Professional installers are a must. Concrete is an ever-changing material, and mistakes are sometimes irreversible. Keeping a consistent color and texture takes a lot of planning, timing and skilled professionals.

Once you have invested in decorative concrete, the most obvious benefit to the floor is its longevity. Maintenance is easy. The floor needs only a damp mopping and occasional waxing to maintain its original appearance for years without the hassle and expense of repainting or reinstalling.

These decorative concrete systems are not just for new construction. What's becoming popular is remodeling existing surfaces by removing the carpet and staining the concrete beneath. Concrete can be restained to create or co-ordinate with a new look. In addition, you can select a dif­ferent area rug, or even refloor or recarpet over a concrete surface. At an eighth of an inch, micro toppings are the thinnest system available. After years of enjoyment, you can change the color design and texture of your system by applying a new system over the existing one.

Terry Kurucz is the president of Futuristic Designs Inc., which specializes in installing high-end decorative floors.