Stamped Concrete = One Crazy Day!

[rpcrowe]

I had a strip of grass on the north side of my house that has always been a thorn in my side. It has been difficult to grow a decent lawn because most of the year, the strip is in the shade of my house. We are now in a drought situation and need to reduce our water use, one way is to replace lawn with other ground cover. When we do have rain, the strip never dries out and is a quagmire of muddy grass...

Solution: replace the lawn with stamped concrete. However this has been one crazy day for my dogs who are angry at strangers wandering around outside my home. And of course, I had to take my dogs on their potty breaks with leashes on. One escaped me and ended up with green feet from the green coloring (that is the powdery stuff green being thrown on the concrete)...

I thought it might be interesting to show how the stamped concrete was installed...

Concrete being poured...



Concrete being smoothed out. The guy is kneeling on a pair of floats as he smooths the concrete...





Coloring being applied...



Pattern being stamped into concrete...



Hand trimming - this has been a labor intensive project...



Xavier has been doing my concrete and other work for years. I never even ask him for an estimate. He always comes through with a great job and at a price that surprises me...

Next, I have stopped watering the section of my lawn next to my house.



I am letting it dry out because it is lighter in weight to remove dried turf than wet turf. I am converting this area into a drought tolerant xeriscape, using decomposed granite, rocks and succulent plants watered with an efficient drip system.

[Shadowman]

Nice series and the work looks great so far.

[IzzieK]

Looking nice, Richard...

[rpcrowe]

Funny thing happened (that could have had tragic results). The concrete guy came back on Sunday to clean up. He has done a lot of work for me and is always very conscientious about shutting the gates so I became pretty complacent and didn't check the gate after he left.

Then I realized that I had not seen Sasha, my little black and white Jack Russel Terrier anywhere. She had gone for a walk-about and I didn't know how long she had been gone.

I drove my car all around shouting her name and shaking a bag of treats to no avail. I then came home resigned to making some "LOST DOG" posters. Suddenly two Jehovah's Witnesses ladies came up to my driveway. They had been cruising the neighborhood publicizing an event they were sponsoring. One had Sasha in her arms and asked if this was my dog. Which Sasha certainly was.

They had seen me driving around and calling for Sasha. Funny thing, they thought that I had been calling Elijah and they kept calling Sasha "Elijah". Anyhow my wandering terrier is safe at home now.

The concrete work is very nice but, we don't really like the color too much because it is too bright. It kind of looks like a swimming pool deck. We are considering the addition of some darker stain to tone the brightness down a bit but, have to let the concrete cure for a while before staining it.

However, it really makes the area look larger! Of course, no watering or trimming needed anymore.

[Digital]

Richard, I am happy that Sasha was returned to you.


Bruce

[IzzieK]

Richard, when our two doggies were young-er, they used to just run away somewhere and when we noticed they were gone, I will go up and down the road looking for them while calling their names. Bill will get our car out and coax them out wherever they are because they are used to jumping in the car. One day our neighbour across the road said, "Dogs are clever, they know their way back home and they will come back when either they are tired or get hungry..." Funny but it's true because sometimes when we did not noticed that they were gone, they barked by the front door because the garage door was already shut by the time they were back.

I had since trained them not to pass through any gates nor doors in and out of the house without permission or being invited. So open door/s to them doesn't mean going out or running away...Roxie is very well trained now...then a year ago.

[just me]

I had a strip of grass on the north side of my house that has always been a thorn in my side. It has been difficult to grow a decent lawn because most of the year, the strip is in the shade of my house. We are now in a drought situation and need to reduce our water use, one way is to replace lawn with other ground cover. When we do have rain, the strip never dries out and is a quagmire of muddy grass...

Solution: replace the lawn with stamped concrete. However this has been one crazy day for my dogs who are angry at strangers wandering around outside my home. And of course, I had to take my dogs on their potty breaks with leashes on. One escaped me and ended up with green feet from the green coloring (that is the powdery stuff green being thrown on the concrete)...

I thought it might be interesting to show how the stamped concrete was installed...

Concrete being poured...



Concrete being smoothed out. The guy is kneeling on a pair of floats as he smooths the concrete...





Coloring being applied...



Pattern being stamped into concrete...



Hand trimming - this has been a labor intensive project...



Xavier has been doing my concrete and other work for years. I never even ask him for an estimate. He always comes through with a great job and at a price that surprises me...

Next, I have stopped watering the section of my lawn next to my house.



I am letting it dry out because it is lighter in weight to remove dried turf than wet turf. I am converting this area into a drought tolerant xeriscape, using decomposed granite, rocks and succulent plants watered with an efficient drip system.

Many houses here have this " Stamped Concrete " as a driveway, looks good, our driveway is laid out with " Pavers " sort of Bricks.....looks very nice too, but in winter when there is more rain, then between the pavers weed is growing, which our gardener take care off with a weed killer spray, but often I have been thinking it would have been better to have this stamped concrete laid down for the driveway.......

Griddi........

[Donald]

Never come across that 'stamped concrete' process before. Don't think it is done over here (somebody will no doubt tell me I'm wrong). Even though it's better to have grass than any paving, when grass just doesn't work this looks like a really good alternative. I like it.

[ST1]

Never come across that 'stamped concrete' process before. Don't think it is done over here (somebody will no doubt tell me I'm wrong). Even though it's better to have grass than any paving, when grass just doesn't work this looks like a really good alternative. I like it.

You're right again Donald, I've seen it used for drives in the UK, in fact our friends who now reside in New Zealand had their drive done in the UK with this method, rather than having a block paved drive. It seems that it's easier to maintain than block paving. But it needs a drainage system for the removal of surface water, with block paving I believe the surface water can permeate through the sand fill between the block. No doubt someone will tell me I'm wrong

[Donald]

You're right again Donald, I've seen it used for drives in the UK,

Oh well, must be just Scotland then. Probably our Presbyterian upbringing to blame!!!

[rpcrowe]

Donald,

If we were lucky enough to have the amount of rain that the British Isles experience, I would have kept my lawn.

However, the drought is so severe (Global Warming) that we have mandatory reductions in water use.

I am not really happy about the color that the concrete turned out to be, it's a bit bright and looks like a swimming pool deck. Most importantly, it reflects too much light into our bedroom and will make the house too warm during the hot days of late summer and early fall.

As soon as this concrete cures (I didn't know it was sick but found out it must cure) We plan to stain it a darker green. I also don't want a single overall color, rather I'd like different shades throughout the area...