History of Decorative Concrete
There are many branches of the decorative concrete industry that have built up over the last 50 or 60 years but some of the earliest evidence of the birth of the industry dates back to the early 19th century when companies started producing innovative building facades by using colours and stains to make their work look more interesting and unique. This included mixing pigment into fresh concrete and submerging concrete in solutions that resembled chemical stains.
Once it became accepted fact that metallic oxide shades do not fade in the ultraviolet glow from sunlight, early in the 20th century, craftsmen started using pigments to apply colour onto concrete. The original creations comprised colour hardeners like cement, colour wax, chemical stains and sealers.
Stamped or imprinted concrete was one new method that was invented around 60 years ago. One Brad Bowman started experimenting using the most basic methods to put a pattern into flat concrete walls and slabs. He started with single wooden print patterns that crudely replicated a brick, then built platform stamps that imprinted several patterns of a brick at the same time. His first stamps were made of wood, then sheet metal, then aluminium moulds. He quickly recognised the potential this presented and having patented the process, in 1970 he set up a franchise network across the USA. By now there was a variety of patterns replicating natural stone / brick finishes, all produced using these somewhat cumbersome aluminium moulds.
Imprinted concrete grew massively in popularity as the franchise network quickly established itself. It was since then that the designers, architects and the contractors realized the advantages of implementing stamped concrete for building driveways. It worked really well to aid the process of crafting out delicate designs and was extremely affordable in contrast to other forms of concrete.
Bowman's cast aluminum tools were heavy, had a limited life, and printed only patterns, not textures into the concrete. Jon Nasvik became the first to develop urethane stamps that were light and long-lived. In the late 1970s he built a plastic stamp that imprinted both pattern and texture on fresh concrete. The first pattern for commercial use was a broken used brick pattern but over time there was a huge expansion in the designs available for imprinting.
The methods of applications and designs have drastically changed following the stage whether the users were exposed to only a handful of designs and standard building tools used in other industries. As the industry kept growing, an increasing number of companies ventured into the field of manufacturing concrete products. With such market conditions, manufacturers began producing materials in higher quantities and the designs too became more intricate.
Many specialist tools were also introduced to the market at that time which made the task of installation installing designs simpler than ever. Creation of designs started gaining pace and became more defined. New colouring options like acid stains, transparent stains, and high quality dyes took the market by storm. They were used to apply colour to the concrete and were much more efficient and durable and stayed on for a lot longer.
Since 1990 PICS has been at the forefront of innovation in the imprinted concrete market but probably the most important contribution to the industry has been the level of customer support provided, through the "nothing is too much trouble" helpline, the constant supply of training courses, the design and supply of marketing materials for the contractor network and last but certainly not least, the manufacture of consistent, high quality materials that do not fail during application.
