CD Designs Blog
Essential and Nonessential Maintenance
It is a given that your pattern imprinted concrete will need to be maintained. To what extent comes down to two different notions. These are whether the concrete requires essential maintenance or non essential maintenance.
It is essential that your pattern imprinted concrete is sealed after the initial installation. This is to ensure that the product is fully protected. Upon deciding whether your product needs to be resealed it is important to judge whether you believe the concrete is no longer protected or whether you require a reseal for aesthetic purposes.
Essential Maintenance: This is to ensure that the driveway is protected form freeze thaw cycles and traffic. When the seal has worn or the surface has been scratched it can be visibly seen as seen below on the left. It is essential to reseal your pattern imprinted concrete when the seal has completely worn away and the concrete is exposed and no longer protected. No seal = No protection, its that simple.
Non Essential Maintenance: This is a matter of the aesthetics or visual appearance of the drive. There can be certain misunderstandings when it comes to the appearance of the drive. ‘Loss of colour’ does not necessarily mean the concrete is not protected. We use the term ‘loss of colour’ loosely as it does not mean that the concrete has lost colour but could be something as simple as weathering on the surface of the seal. This is an indication that the seal is serving its purpose. As you can see in the picture above on the right, the driveway is not damaged and the seal seal has not worn away or been penetrated, the seal has simply weathered naturally and ‘frosted’ over, in this case a reseal although not essential, has brought through the colour of the concrete underneath. Non essential maintenance on pattern imprinted concrete is much like waxing your car, the integrity of the product does not depend on it but if you want it to look good it is something you should consider.
Post Date: | 16th February 2012 |
Posted in: | Driveway, Pattern Imprinted Concrete, Pattern Imprinted Concrete Driveways, Uncategorized |
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Concrete Mix Design
The right concrete mix ratio can solve problems or it can create them. What we rely on in a concrete mix is one that is easy to place, strong enough to meet the needs of the application, durable for the life of the Pattern Imprinted Concrete, and that will look good when we are done with our decorative efforts.
The design mix is of the upmost importance especially when it comes to Pattern Imprinted Concrete. There must be a happy medium in terms of water and cement ratio and also the types and amount of aggregates used. For us a wetter concrete with smaller aggregates will be easier to place, but with this the concrete upon curing will be less durable. Where as an extremely ‘stiff mix’ with larger aggregates, which may be the most durable concrete in the world would be near impossible to place.
This video was taken at the time of an excavation which shows how detrimental not having the right design mix can be. The supplier of this concrete evidently didn’t take design mix seriously, the concrete appears putty like and is easily destroyed. In reality, with correct mix, the hammer should bounce off the concrete. To view the video follow the link to our you tube channel below.
Post Date: | 11th February 2012 |
Posted in: | Pattern Imprinted Concrete, Pattern Imprinted Concrete Driveway Installation, Pattern Imprinted Concrete Driveway Maintenance, Pattern Imprinted Concrete Driveways |
Tags: | Concrete Mix Design, pattern imprinted concrete installation |
Weathering
Weathering is the effect of pollution and natural forces, such as frost, rain and sunlight, on a structure. With concrete, the main weathering problem is unexpected variations in the visual appearance of pattern imprinted concrete. Dust in the atmosphere will be deposited on the facade. The flow of rainwater will tend to wash some areas preferentially, resulting in significant differences in colour between clean and dirty areas and even the traffic of foliage across concrete can cause small scratches to the surface which over time can be mistaken for loss or change of colour. When your pattern imprinted concrete shows this weathering it is more often than not a case of the sealant being effected by the elements and not the concrete, showing that the seal is serving its purpose by protecting the concrete below. In large these are cosmetic issues and do not effect the usability of your driveway or patio, however, it is possible to regain the vibrancy of colour by resealing your pattern imprinted concrete. The video link below shows how weathering can effect your pattern imprinted concrete and how it can be easily rectified.
Post Date: | 11th February 2012 |
Posted in: | Pattern Imprinted Concrete, Pattern Imprinted Concrete Driveways |
Tags: | concrete driveway reseal, pattern imprinted concrete driveway maintenance, weathering |
Wishing you a merry festive season, and all the best for 2012!
It sure has been a busy year for CD Designs — we have been inundated with work, and have carried our concrete crusade around England implementing high quality pattern imprinted concrete driveways and patios far and wide, sometimes branching out into slightly unfamiliar territories such as interior work, but always leaving a trail of satisfied customers in our wake.
We’ve also been very active on our blog this year, publishing a wide variety of articles covering everything from practical tips and tricks for pattern imprinted concrete, to weird and wonderful concrete design work from designers the world over.
We’d like to thank everyone involved in our success this year – all the staff at CD Designs, everyone who helped promote us, and of course, all the customers who put their trust in us to do a good job of adding concrete creativity to their homes, offices and other locations.
Cheers.
We look forward to working with you again in 2012!
Post Date: | 25th December 2011 |
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Installing your own pattern imprinted concrete driveways in cold weather
As the winter draws in, you might think of packing up your tools and leaving any pattern imprinted concrete driveway and pattern imprinted concrete patio work until next year, when spring starts to draw in. After all, the cold weather can have a lot of negative effects on concrete projects, making it hardly worth it?
We would say yes and no. The cold weather does present you with some challenges when installing concrete, but it is by no means impossible. Let’s look at some tips for beating Jack Frost back from your concrete!
When planning your winter concrete driveway installation, make sure you have everything ready to go. This includes all your materials, a properly prepared installation site, and weather protection such as insulation materials and heaters. The critical objective is making sure the concrete does not freeze, or get too cold for it to cure properly. This can happen if your concrete loses heat and moisture too quickly at the early stages.
Planning tips:
* Using a lower slump concrete is good for cold weather, as it will reduce the necessary setting time and cut down on bleed water.
* Consider using accelerating admixtures or Type III Hi Early cement. These will get through the critical setting/curing periods quicker, so need protection for less time.
* Request a preheated mix of concrete from your supplier.
* Don’t use flyash-containing concrete if at all possible, as it will take longer to set/cure.
Next up, let’s look at the placement stage. To start with, make sure all snow and ice is removed from the concrete and sub-base. Use heaters to keep the sub-base above freezing temperatures, and try to keep the concrete itself between about 13 and 23 degrees centigrade.
After placement, don’t start finishing the concrete until bleed water has dispersed. At the same time, you should make sure that the concrete doesn’t dry out complete while curing. And never let ice form on your concrete while it is curing! Ideally you should keep the template of the concrete above 10 degrees centigrade using heated enclosures and/or insulating blankets for about three days to a week after pouring, and then keep it up to at least 5 degrees for four days after that.
One last tip — when you remove the heating/insulation, do it gradually, so the concrete doesn’t cool too rapidly (by 5 degrees or more per 24 hours).
Post Date: | 16th November 2011 |
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Tags: | concrete tips, driveways in winter, pattern imprinted concrete driveway installation, Winter Concrete Driveway Installation, winter driveway care |