Decorative concrete is an excellent substitutenatural materials. These concrete products, depending on the composition, can be constructive, decorative and artistic-decorative. They easily imitate natural and artificially created surfaces, for example, paving stones, marble, bricks, wood, laminate, animal hide. Decorative concrete for strength and durability is many times higher than that of conventional concrete mixes. It is used for decoration of yards, facades of houses and individual rooms.
Decorative concrete
The basic qualities this concrete receivesthanks to its textured finish. When it is manufactured, special chemical dyes are used, which have good adhesive properties. These compounds give the products a special aesthetics and beauty. Surface finish is made by spraying and stamping.
Popular colored and stamped concrete are varieties of art concrete, which adorns the facades of houses and the priworld territories.
Spraying method for decorative concrete
Sputtering is used verticallylocated planes. Acid dyes and a sprayer give the surface the right colors. The paint, when in contact with the concrete solution, reacts chemically and creates the desired pattern. It is applied in layers until the desired shade is achieved. The method of spraying allows creating visibility of brickwork and natural stone.
Printing method for decorative concrete
This method is used on any planes. Today, there is a large number of technologies for the production of printed concrete.
Any concrete in its composition contains cement, plasticizers, sand and other elements that depend on the desired result.
Decorative concrete can subsequently have a surface imitating the bark of a tree, a laminate, natural stone, ceramic tiles, brickwork, cobblestones.
The decorative concrete produced by own hands turns out not only beautiful, but also reliable, durable. Let's understand.
Decorative concrete with your own hands. Production technology by spraying
To create a decorative surface on concrete, stencils are used that are attached to the surface. The color mixture when applied to the surface, gives it the desired form.
Stencils can be purchased ready-made or madeyourself. To produce them, even thick paper can be used. The final stage of creating a decorative surface is applying a special protective impregnation, which will further protect the concrete from external influences.
Printing technology
Decorative-printed concrete is a varietymonolithic concrete, treated with artistic stamping and chemical impregnation. Printed concrete (stamping) is a fairly common method of making a decorative surface.
To create decorative printed concretethey need a concrete mixer, a vibrating table and molds made of metal, wood, polyethylene, fiberglass or ABS plastic. You can buy them or make them yourself. If simple or standard forms are needed, they can be made from OSB, plywood or boards.
Forms for decorative concrete
Form for the manufacture of concrete for certain skills can be done using metal and welding. To give a more complex texture, the die (matrix) can be poured from the polymer.
To create a decorative surface, dies (matrixes) of plastic, polyurethane or silicone are required.
Plastic is used to create paving slabs and pavers. Flexible matrices are needed to create more complex shapes.
In order to make a silicone matrix, in the store you need to buy 1 tile, which simulates a stone with the desired pattern.
To create a mold for decorative concrete, you need:
- silicone sealant;
- acetic acid;
- solidol;
- sheet of plywood or OSB;
- a large brush;
- knife.
From the plywood a box with a depth of 15-17 cm is formed.It is half filled with sealant. Tile with a decorative pattern is carefully greased with a solidol. Then the face side of it must be pressed into the silicone. Surpluses formed on the surface are removed. On the fourth day, the mold for punching concrete is ready for use.
The mold is gently pressed into the uncuredconcrete surface, pre-coated with colored pigment, moisture resistant additives and fixer. After solidification of the surface, the stamps are removed and the concrete is covered with protective impregnation.
Composition of decorative concrete
For the production of decorative concrete, cement M350 or M400 is used. To impart strength to the material, fibrous fibers are added to the material.
For the production of tiles and small-sized products, a finely divided aggregate is used. Volumetric concrete parts are manufactured with the addition of larger fillers.
A pronounced structure of concrete is obtained by adding marble, basalt, limestone, granite, anthracite, fragments of ceramics and colored glass.
To strengthen the texture, special mixtures are used, which slow down the surface hardening. At this time, concrete is treated with special tools or hydrochloric acid.
To obtain bright and pure colors, a whitePortland cement. Dark and light sand allows you to achieve the desired decorative effect. When making your own hands, the composition of the decorative concrete can be changed at your discretion by adding or removing any components.
Covering the yard with decorative concrete
Decorative concrete has a fairly wide application, and quite often it can be found in the form of sites, paths, access roads, car parking.
How to make decorative concrete with your own hands so that he can decorate himself with any yard?
Printed concrete does not slip, tolerates temperature changes, and is therefore so often used in ennobling the yard around the house.
To cover the yard with decorative concrete itshands must choose a suitable area. If concrete is manufactured in the yard, its production is carried out immediately on a permanent place, where it will later be located.
To make a garden path or decorate a section of the yard, you need to take cement M350-400 and plasticizers. Work should be at plus temperature.
The mixture is stirred. It is poured into molds. Vibratory plate is used for compaction. Roller smooths and rolls the concrete surface.
Decorative concrete with their own hands is created indoors or outdoors in the yard. If the production of concrete is carried out under the roof, good ventilation and heating should be provided here.
When working from the outside, first thelayout of the site. In the ground you need to drive pegs. On the perimeter stretches the rope. The top layer of soil should be cut to a depth of 15-20 cm and removed to the side. On the edges of the formwork.
A mixture of sand and granite crumb with a thickness of 10-15 cm is poured, it is punctured. Polyethylene with overlapping 10 cm is laid on top, reinforcing metal mesh is laid out.
After that, you can prepare the concrete.
Recipe for decorative concrete with your own hands
Per 1 m3 in concrete enters:
- 160 liters of water.
- 600 g of reinforcing polypropylene fiber.
- 400 kg Portland cement M400.
- 700 kg of granite crumb fraction from 5 to 20 mm.
- 450 kg of river sand.
- 2.5 l of plasticizer C3 in aqueous solution.
- dye (the amount depends on the desired shade).
The process of production of decorative concrete
The components are combined and thoroughly mixed in a concrete mixer. The mixture should be homogeneous.
The decorative mixture is poured out. The mixture is distributed over the formwork and compacted.
For the settling of coarse particles rolling is carried out by a roller, while a small aggregate is carried to the surface.
The concrete should be smoothed with an aluminum smoothing iron. The perimeter is processed by angular ironing.
Before using a color fixer, you need to make sure that the surface is smooth, matt. The fixing agent contains coloring pigment, quartz sand, granite dust, adhesive filler.
70% of fixer (3.6 kg / m)2 for light and 2.6 kg / m2 for dark colors) is applied manually.Smoothing of the entire surface and edges is made by aluminum smoothing. The remaining 30% of the fixer evenly scatter on the concrete, and everything is ironed with a metal smoothing.
Each layer is rubbed up to complete wetting of the coloring component, and the concrete should be smooth and evenly colored.
Dispersive color hardener makes concrete more dense, covering all micropores and gives the surface a bright and stable color.
The treated surface is covered with a disconnector layer (1 m2 consumption is 0.2 kg).
Then the soft surface is pressed with a special shape, simulating a stone, a bar, a brick or planks.
The matrix should be moistened with water and evenly pressed to the surface. The first matrix should be laid along the formwork along the length of the site. They closely nestle to each other.
From kneading to stamping, time must passmaximum 70 minutes. At work, concrete must not grasp. Consistency should resemble clay. Stamp with dried products should be removed carefully, without damaging the surface. For this, a special punch is used. After 2 days, the disconnector remaining on the surface must be removed with a long brush. To create a deeper texture, you can use a 3% solution of hydrochloric acid.
Then the surface is washed with running water, dried and covered with acrylic impregnation or varnish for concrete and stone.
The decorative concrete created by own hands after drying is ready.
Covering any surface with decorative concrete with your own hands allows you to cut costs and arrange the house and plot to your liking.
By ready-made decorative concrete, you can walk 5 hours after applying varnish or impregnation.
Large loads (car, trolley, trailer arrival) are possible after 12-14 days.
Do not use anti-icicle reagents for decorative coating! In addition, you should avoid using metal objects to remove snow and ice.
Decorative concrete for the protection of the surface after a year should be covered with a hydrophobizing solution. It will preserve the appearance of concrete and protect it from external influences.
Decorative concrete with proper operation will last for many years and will decorate itself with any surface where it was applied.
