Stenciling Concrete

Looking for another way to showcase your talents in decorative concrete? Want to offer your customers a service that other contractors are not? Then consider stenciled concrete.

Stenciled concrete offers the benefits of cast-in-place concrete and the look of a paver without the paver price. The different colored grout line created with stencils gives concrete the appearance of multiple textures without the labor involved with stamping. Stencils, which are not reusable, can be made from either new or recycled paper or cardboard and come in many patterns. Unlike stamped concrete, which can leave a higher, textured surface, stenciling keeps the concrete plane flatter.

A decorative stencil job can be done in one day without ever having to get onto the concrete. The technique is popular for backyard patios, residential driveways and commercial hardscape applications.

The following are two stenciled concrete job stories that demonstrate the uses and benefits of stenciled concrete.

Stencils hit the sidewalk
Todd Rose Decorative Concrete
Lincoln, Neb.
toddrosedecorativeconcrete.com

Sometimes, the best way to gain customers is to show them your work. That's how Todd Rose of Todd Rose Decorative Concrete landed a job for the Terra Centre in Sioux City, Iowa. Rose was in Iowa stenciling sidewalks for another customer when the Centre client saw the look of the stenciled job and immediately told Rose that he wanted that effect. The previous courtyard had been done with pavers, but maintenance issues drove the customer to look for a better option. Enter stenciling.

Rose and three other employees were able to complete the 6,100-square-foot job in three weeks. Because the job required stenciled concrete in some areas and non-textured in others, Rose broke the pouring and stenciling process down to make it simpler.

Rose separated the site into 160-square-foot squares and poured three squares at a time using plain gray concrete. Several admixtures were used during the process to prevent some possible headaches. "At times, when we were pouring in the shade, we would use non-chloride accelerators so we could place the concrete, do the stencil, get the color, and do it very quickly," Rose says.

Rose used sheets of Masonite to block out the gray concrete and prevent the color hardener or the stencil from disturbing it. He added the color hardener to areas that would be stenciled and worked it in with a bull and a magnesium float. He used Decorative Concrete Impressions' paper stencils on the concrete and ran a tapered texture roller over the concrete and stencil to create the imprint. "Once the concrete is at the right time for stamping it's the right time to roll with a texture roller," Rose says. "And the stencil breaks up any repeating pattern from the textured roller.

Rose used a liquid release with antiquing color added so they were not required to come back and wash off a powdered release agent. This helped save time by allowing them to seal the concrete the same day.

Once the entire area had been stenciled the crew removed the stencils and sealed the concrete using an acrylic solvent-based cure and seal.

As a final touch, Rose came back the next day and used two colors of acid stain on the stenciled compasses to give them a more defined look.

Stenciling in history
Concrete Tailors LLC
Noblesville, Ind.
www.concretetailors.com

Concrete Tailors used stenciled decorative concrete to match the historic look of a house built in the late 1800s. The project involved stenciling a 700-square-foot wrap-around porch, the rounded front steps and the connecting front walk, says Don Reynolds, owner of Concrete Tailors.

The homeowners wanted the authentic look of a brick mortar joint for the outside of the historic home, Reynolds says. Previously, the homeowner used bricks mortared on top of concrete. Due to poor grade issues and no reinforcement in the concrete, cracks and settling occurred. Stenciled concrete provided them with the same brick and grout joint look but in one monolithic piece. The customer chose a Rustic Brick Artcrete stencil, Sunset Rose color hardener and Charcoal release with a Slate texture roller.