Concrete Driveways & Walkways

Concrete Flat WorkIt is widely used in two different ways that is traditional work and decorative flat work for interior and exterior of house. It is commonly used in flat work or floor work of basements, driveways, garages, patios and side walks. Stamped and stained concrete is used in traditional and decorative designs. It has some basic qualities such as strength, durability, low maintenance, energy efficiency, environmental friendly and beautiful. In early times it had industrial look that restricts its flexible use in homes. But latest technology of shaping, designing and coloring has added beauty and character that greatly increases the practical use of it.

Whatever your choice or where ever you use it has been guaranteed that concrete built house will last.Advantages of Concrete Flat WorkIt is an excellent flooring material whether it is used in plain and decorative manner. You can use it in both indoors and outdoors to add prestige and value to your property. Its use as flooring material offers many advantages to homeowners. Major advantages are durability, strength and low price. You can match your driveways and walks with home's exterior by using soft and natural palette. You can naturally blend patios and retaining walls with surroundings or contrast colors can be used.

Colored and textured concrete is used to create delicate look of interior rooms.

• It has been always used where strength and durability are required. It lasts longer than brick, stone and wood work. It also needs less maintenance. It absorbs very minimal amount of water this will not let it wrap in humid climate.

• It also has the ability to slow down the absorption of heat through wall. Due to this fact with same insulation house will remain cool in summer and warm in winter. Smaller air conditioning and heating units can full fill the air conditioning needs.

• It is classified as non combustible material and has very slow heat transfer. This has made it a good barrier for fire spread. But in case if concrete home catches fire the damage is not so much severe and can easily be repaired.

• It is natural building material. Natural materials are preferably used every where. It is made up of commonly found minerals. The area of land used to extract minerals required to make concrete is only a fraction of area used for timber logging.

• It can be recycled with out any loss in strength and performance. Micro topping and polishing are the techniques that recycle dull gray concrete artisans to beautiful floor without reproducing new slabs.

• It supports healthy indoor atmosphere due to its inert nature. It does not need any volatile organic preservative as wood require. It is water proof and fire resistant that's why it does not need any additional coatings and sealers. Cleaning is also very easy you can clean with organic, non-toxic substances that include simple house hold soap and water.

• It is very eco friendly does not release toxins in to your atmosphere. It is completely natural and it does not emit tar based residues in ground.Several coating materials can be used to coat garage floors. Commonly four basic types of materials are used to coat concrete garage floors. These materials include:

• Epoxy

• Polyurethane

• Acrylic Sealer/Stain

• LatexEpoxyIt is widely used as floor coating. It is very resistant to chemical but gets yellow and less glossy upon long exposures to direct sunlight. It forms hard long lasting surface and binds strongly with concrete surface. It is available in solvent or water based formulations with ratio of 1 part or 2 parts. It should be applied between temperature ranges of from 60 to 80 degrees in less humid environment. Epoxy will get dry in few hours if it is applied in high temperature range. But you have to wait for several days to get hard enough for vehicle traffic. Curing time can be reduced by increasing application temperature to 90 degrees. Major problems which occur during application are bubbling, blush and color streaking. Air trapped with nap roller causes bubbling while other contaminants of flooring material and moisture results in color streaks. Blushes are formed as white greasy or waxy layer. They are formed due to reaction between atmosphere moisture and hardening material. If garage is extensively used you need to recoat after every 3 to 5 years.PolyurethaneIt is bit expensive coating material than all other materials. It is more resistant to chemicals as compared to epoxy and does not get fade too much upon exposure to sunlight. It is highly durable and gives fine glossy finish. But it is not suggested to directly use on concrete flooring. It can only bind properly when applied over primer coat of epoxy. It is used as protective coating and creates special effect. Besides its expensive cost one can use if he/she wants traditional look.

Acrylic Sealer/Acid StainAcrylic Sealer/acid stain adds unique and expressive finish in multiple tones and colors. You can recreate the appearance of your stone flooring. It will give you chance to experiment and diverse patterns and designs. Acid stains are translucent and make design with blemishes of concrete flooring. It is not a coating it chemically reacts with floor. That's why floor must be free of contaminants. It is kind of permanent finish and needs additional protective coating with acrylic sealer. This protective coating can be damaged with exposure to sun light and dragging of heavy objects across the floor surface. Sealer needs protective waxing one or more than one time in order to maintain its proper look.LatexIt is least expensive material among all other coating materials. It is a synthetic polymer that resembles to latex obtained from rubber tree. There are many misconceptions that it is not a good floor coating material. It can be a good option of floor coating material. Performance mainly depends on the formulation of paint.
Posted by Orange County Constructio