Austin, TX 78734
Cell: 512-554-1363
Office: 512-897-1950
Frequently Asked Questions on Concrete Floors
Who would want concrete Floors?
Concrete floors are the most unique, personal flooring option because they are custom for each client. To determine whether concrete is right for you, think about whether you believe that:
• you want something unique and personalized
• you want something that looks natural and has character
• you appreciate high-quality, hand-crafted items
• you want a reasonably priced alternative to other high end flooring materials
• you need a color or visual texture that's not available
with other flooring materials
If so, concrete floors are right for you.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of concrete compared to other flooring materials?
Advantages:
Custom: Concrete's biggest advantage is that it is completely custom. Your floor will be unique to you and highly personalized.
Versatile: Concrete is extremely versatile. It can enhance any style, from French Country to Contemporary. From Arts and Crafts to Industrial. From Traditional to Modem. The possibilities for color and texture are endless.
Practical: Myconcreteartist.com uses the highest quality products to create floors and wall surfaces that are incredibly durable, stain-resistant, environmentally friendly and low-maintenance. Common food and household items will not stain them. With minimal routine maintenance concrete floors will remain a beautiful addition to your home or business for many, many years.
Imperfections: We believe that this is an advantage. Concrete floors are hand made and hand finished. Since concrete is a heterogeneous mixture of many different ingredients, subtle variations in color, shade, texture and overall appearance should be expected. All concrete is susceptible to tiny hairline cracks. While not common. They can sometimes appear months or years after installation, and are generally a result of seasonal movement of the floor and the house itself. These should be considered part of the aesthetic charm of concrete, and not a defect. Concrete exhibits natural beauty rather than plastic perfection.
How much do they cost?
Even though it is a completely custom material, concrete is competitive in price with middle to high end flooring materials. The price can range from $2-4 per square foot for a simple stain and seal and slightly more for highly detailed floors and vertical applications. We are happy to work with you or your designer to give you an estimate on your project, and we can help you with options to fit your budget.
Where can I use concrete in my home?
· Myconcreteartist.com can make concrete floors and walls virtually anywhere an attractive, durable surface is required.
· We use products that perform in a wide variety of applications. Ranging from staining and sealing existing slabs, which can greatly enhance plain concrete floors, driveways, patios and garage floors; to repairing and resurfacing damaged slabs or using overlays and microtoppings to create surfaces that have color and texture not possible with any other material.
· Concrete can be installed over many existing surfaces without a significant increase in thickness or weight. Some of these surfaces include existing concrete, existing ceramic or natural tile, gypcrete, plywood, hardibacker, vertical sheetrock, vertical concrete (solid or concrete block) and more.
· Amazing design options are possible through the use of stencils, sawcuts, sandblasting, engraving, textured overlays and the latest coloring techniques, there are no limits.
· Concrete floors and walls can be used both indoors and outdoors.
What colors and finishes are available?
Myconcreteartist.com uses a combination of overlays pigments, stains, dyes and sealers which can be used to create an infinite number of colors and finishes. From high gloss to matte, rough to smooth, vibrant and modem to aged and earthy. We work closely with each client or their designer to create a floor that is totally unique. Mock-up sample boards and test areas are used to finalize colors and finishes prior to installation.
How much color variation can occur?
Concrete is a natural, handmade material. Many factors such as humidity, temperature and product lot can affect the final appearance of the concrete. All of our formulas record the type and exact amount of every product used. However, colors can still vary because of the aforementioned factors.
Another factor that contributes to perceived variation is simply the size of samples. A 12" x 12" sample, or even an 18" x30" sample, will look different than a whole floor simply because the small sample does not capture all of the natural, random variations that will occur over a large surface. The color in a 12" x 12" sample may appear completely uniform, but a whole floor in that exact same color will not appear as uniform. The same situation occurs with other natural materials and we see this as part of the appeal of concrete. If you are looking for perfect uniformity, some type of manufactured flooring might be a better option for you.
How long does it take?
A typical decorative project will take from 2 to 7 days to complete. A simple stain and seal job will take 2 days. A large complex overlay job with multiple colors and designs will take 7 days or more.
What kind of maintenance is required?
Concrete floors and especially concrete walls are very low maintenance. For low to medium traffic floors routine sweeping and moppng with special PH neutral cleaner is all that is required to maintain a beautiful floor. For high traffic floors like those in commercial and retail settings, a floor maintenance program that includes regular machine cleaning and reapplication of an acrylic floor finish may be necessary.
What is the lead time?
Although floors are typically one of the last items to be installed, concrete floors should be selected as early as possible. Here is an outline of the
process:
• Site Visit! Color and design consultation
Myconcreteartist.com will visit your job, show you samples and work with you or your designer to get a general idea of what the finished floor should be.
• Mock-Up
Generally within two weeks or less of the site visit we will have completed 2 or 3 mock-ups for potential approval. More mock-ups will be made if necessary to finalize color and design options prior to installation. Leaving extra time for this stage of the process will pay off in the long run. In some cases additional mock-ups may add to the price of the project.
• Installation
Once mock-ups are approved, installation can begin. Most jobs take 2 to 5 days to install. Please see the section above called "How Long Does it Take?" for more info.
Where Are You Located?
Myconcreteartistcom is located in Austin Tx.
What Areas Do You Service?
We service virtually all areas of Texas.
Do You Pour The Concrete And Do The Design?
No, Myconcreteartist.com is a decorative finish contractor, not an Austin concrete contractor. Therefore, your concrete must already be in place for us to do our creative design work. If you have plain gray concrete now, you don't have to tear it out and start over, you can simply have it enhanced with our scoring and staining system for a whole new look.
My New Concrete Addition Doesn't Look At All Like The Old Concrete Next To It. Can You Make Them Look The Same?
Concrete surfaces of different ages can have different physical characteristics. By mixing our stains on site, we can do whatever color adjustment is necessary to get a very close color match in two different concrete surfaces.
My Concrete Is Very Blotchy. Can This Be Corrected?
Concrete will have a certain amount of patina in it, which is like the grain in wood. Occasionally, concrete cures with severe blotches in it, due to any number of factors. This may be diminished by our surface preparation steps, and if still a problem, we can use some coloring techniques to help blend these problem areas into the overall design.
How Much Thickness Does This Add To My Surface? Will It Be In The Way Of Doors?
Myconcretartist.com system adds no appreciable thickness to the surface. We are not coating new materials laid over the concrete, but rather a stain that is absorbed into the existing concrete surface. The final surface of our project will be the same as the surface with which we started your concrete.
Do I Need To Have Perfect Concrete For This To Work? I Cant Do This To Concrete That Has Cracks, A Salt Finish, Or Brick Ribbons In It, Can I?
Your concrete does not have to be perfect to get a very nice result with Myconcreteartist.com . Since the final surface is the original concrete surface, imperfections (such as cracks) will still be present, but can be worked into designs and camouflaged so they are more or less hidden. Salt finishes are OK. Remember, the final surface texture is the same as the original surface texture, so your new patterned and stained concrete will simply have the same salt finish following our work. Bricks are too dense to absorb stain, so we work with the concrete and not the bricks. Any brick trim present will still be a brick trim afterward, but surrounded by a whole new look.
What Pattern And Color Choices Do You Offer?
We do not use pre-set templates for patterns. This gives us full flexibility to create any pattern that you may desire. Much like the flexibility with our patterns, color choices are also unlimited. In most cases, our stains are manufactured on site at the time of installation by our experienced installers to allow us to create any color combination desired.
Can Concrete Art Enhance Surfaces That Have Already Been Coated?
Our concrete stain has been developed for natural surfaces, so any man made material that has been applied to the underlying concrete would prevent us from enhancing those areas. We may also have similar negative effects as well from residual carpet adhesive. We can apply our decorative scoring and staining system on integral colored concrete with very good results.