Stage 2: Installing and Imprinting the Concrete

We use a fibre enmeshed, air entrained concrete which, on completion, is 25-30% stronger than a standard concrete. The fibres in the concrete enmesh together whilst the concrete cures; this is where the additional strength in the concrete comes from. The air entrainment chemical protects the concrete from any future frost damage.

As you will see from the pictures, the concrete is barrowed in from the mixer, "levelled" with rakes and floated. Once the concrete has been floated, a colour surface hardener is spread over the concrete in powder form and floated into the surface of the concrete. This is the primary colour and is what permanently colours your concrete driveway. Once the colour has been floated in, it is a case of waiting for the concrete to "go off" to the correct consitency for imprinting the pattern. Once ready, a second colour powder, called a release agent, is spread over the surface of the concrete.

This release agent allows us to place the texture mats on the concrete for imprinting the chosen pattern without the concrete sticking to the bottom of the texture mats while printing. Once the concrete has been imprinted with the chosen pattern, we set up bunting tape around the perimeter of the job to stop people from walking on it.

Stage 3: Cutting and Cleaning

Concrete contracts and expands so, depending on the drying conditions, we will call back to site either the following day, or the day after that, to install crack control cuts into the concrete slab. The entire concrete slab and surrounds are then power washed clean.

Notice how we use wall gel to enable us to clean walls down thoroughly - these are the white marks around the bottom of the walls in the photographs. A chemical wash is also used on the concrete to give a thoroughly clean and dust free surface.

The tarmac pathway is "made good", and the driveway is now ready for sealing, but we have to wait for the weather! We need at least two dry days before we call back to site to apply the sealant.

Stage 4: Sealing

Before we seal the pattern imprinted concrete, we will blow any loose debris from the surface and dry any damp areas, as necessary.

We will then add an anti-slip agent to the acrylic based sealant and apply the seal with brushes.

On completion of the sealing, we will once again tape the area off, so no-one walks or drives on it.

We recommend you keep your cars off the concrete for a period of four days after sealing to allow the sealants to set hard and bond properly with the concrete.