If you're installing decorative concrete in your backyard and have researched the possibilities, you've probably come across different terms when it comes to colour. To help you work out the options, here is an outline of the four basic ways decorative concrete is often imbued with colour.
Integral Colours
Integrally coloured concrete is created by adding pigments to the cement during the mixing phase and before it's poured. Thus, the colour extends throughout the concrete, and it won't rub or flake off. Typically, integral colours are earthy tones that mimic the surfaces found in nature, such as browns, terracotta, and sand shades. If you're laying stamped concrete, the integral colour is the first step in creating a variegated surface that mimics stone. Other colouring techniques are applied on top of the cement after it's in place on the ground.
Dry Shake Colours
One of these further treatments is the application of dry shake colours. These are sprinkled onto the cement and worked into the surface. While integral colour runs through the concrete, dry-shake colour's hues spread into the top parts. The shades tend to be quite intense. Colour hardeners also contain mineral elements that densify the concrete and make it more moisture and stain-resistant. To create the varicoloured hues of rock, contractors may layer different tones of colour hardeners over integrally coloured concrete.
Stains
Another colour option they can use is to apply stains to the concrete. Stains create distinct antiquing and marbling effects as their ingredients react with the concrete, and the final results aren't totally controllable. They look a bit random, just like the swirls and patterns in natural stone. Stains can bring out the texture and imperfections in concrete to give it an organic, earthy quality.
Dyes
Dyes are another colouring option that produces a different look than stains. Dyes are very fine particles that sink into the concrete and often give it a more uniform finish. Dyes can come in brighter colours, such as cobalt blue and vivid green. This type of colour technique can be used to create a company logo on polished concrete in a warehouse. But it can also create designs on an outdoor patio.
Thus, there you have it, the common ways your contractors might imbue your decorative concrete with colour. Integral colours and dyes often create more even tones than dry-shake colours and stains, which form variations. Residential concreting services will often layer different colours and techniques to give the concrete depth and a natural look.
Contact a residential concreting contractor to learn more.
Share29 December 2021
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