Decorative Concrete Finishing Enhances:

• Patios • Casino Flooring

• Sidewalks • Driveways

• Front Porches • Streetscapes

Curb & Gutter Services
Protect your property with attractive and effective curbs and gutters from D & R Concrete. We install a wide range of concrete curbs and gutters for sidewalks, driveways, parking lots, and even highways.

Some Driveway Considerations We Help With:

• Find out zoning regulations and building codes of your city to find out how wide your driveway can be at the street, as well as how far you need to be away from property lines.
• Call to find out where gas, water, electric and telephone lines are. Underground sprinkler systems also need to be taken into consideration. You may need to have a utility company move a line if it’s in the way or change the dimensions of your driveway.
• In designing your driveway, consider the long-term maintenance. Asphalt needs to be sealed frequently and damages easily. Concrete is the most durable, and the most versatile, as it can be colored and stamped to look like natural stone. Concrete is also the most cost effective over the long run.
• Slope a driveway towards the street so that water is directed away from the building.

A Concrete Sidewalk is a Perfect Option for These Scenarios:

• To provide a suitable means to get from the backyard to the front yard without stepping on landscaping or lawn.
• To connect a porch to the street.
• To connect a porch to the driveway.
• To create a path through a garden.
• As a public walkway in front of your building.

When designing your walkway, remember to break up solid concrete with greenery and color to make the walk aesthetically pleasing. If the sidewalk will get little sunlight to support flowers and plant growth, consider coloring and staining the concrete to keep the area from looking too drab.

The typical width of a sidewalk is 3 1/2 feet across. Make it smaller to support single walkers through smaller areas, and make it larger if you want the sidewalk to hold sitting areas with benches and chairs, or you want to place planters, outdoor furniture or other accessories on the sidewalk.

Concrete Patio Ideas
Here are some concrete patio ideas to help you design your landscaping project. When choosing a patio, consider the design of the shape, the color and the pattern.

Shape
Some options to consider are circles, squares, rectangles, clover-shaped, or our favorite – a combination that gently curves and slopes to match your landscape.

Here’s a tip for helping you visualize the final product: Take a garden hose or rope and place it in the form of the shape you would like your patio. Place it in the exact spot you would like the patio placed. Show it to your contractor, take a picture of it, or make a sketch of your house/building with the patio coming off of it.

Color
The most inexpensive color option is of course, no color. Concrete has a naturally whitish-grey color. This may be exactly what you are looking for; but color options for concrete are almost limitless. It is our belief it is best to stay in the neutral color category (grays, tans and browns). Although it is fun to try exotic colors, remember to think about the resale value of your home or property. Exotic colors can scare off future buyers. Also consider the colors of the building your patio will be next to. The color should complement the building.

Stamped Concrete
This is the process of imprinting a texture into the wet concrete. Once dried and sealed, the concrete often looks like a natural stone, brick or wood (depending on what you chose to texture it with).

Exposed Aggregate
This is a special type of decorative concrete mix that “exposes” the rocks in the concrete. The rocks are exposed through spraying a retarder onto the surface of the concrete, and then washing the surface off to expose the rock. This is a lower cost alternative to stamping or coloring the concrete, but still looks classy.

Borders and Combinations
If you want to avoid the cost of full concrete stamping over your entire patio, have your contractor stamp borders only. Or, another option is to have borders done in exposed aggregate and leave the rest of the patio in standard concrete.

Concrete Porches & Steps
A concrete porch and stairway is usually the first thing visitors see when coming to your home. Therefore, this area should be aesthetically beautiful, warm, inviting, as well as safe to enter.

Updating Your Concrete Porch:

Tear out the existing porch and pour a new one.In damaged or older concrete entryways, it is especially important to fix sunken concrete and large cracks that heels of shoes can get caught in. If the concrete moves when you step on it, a tear-out is definitely your best prescription. In cases where the concrete is structurally unsound, it is always best to tear out the existing concrete and re-pour.In some cases, the builder or prior contractor was negligent in following codes and procedures to make concrete structurally sound. A sunken concrete porch can occur because the contractor did not dig out the dirt at the foundation location so that the porch could be poured on the solid foundation. In these cases, tear-out is a necessity.

Concrete steps are probably the most strong and durable option for stair building materials. The most common place steps are used are coming off the front doorway of a building and leading to the sidewalk. They are also commonly used to connect a sliding glass door to a patio below.

In older houses, it is an instant update as well as a safety concern to have structurally sound steps.

A beautiful landscaping option is to install concrete stairs to connect a higher elevation to a lower elevation. This is common in backyards that have a walkout. Another option is a formed, curved set of concrete stairs down the side of a hill so that people entering the backyard do not have to walk down the sharp incline.

Decorative Concrete
Decorative (stamped) concrete designs are becoming one of the most popular options for both indoor and outdoor projects because of the durability, permanence, and low cost as compared to other decorative paving materials. Stamping concrete is the process of imprinting a texture into the concrete before it dries. Most often, the imprinted texture mimics the look of natural stone.

The most popular uses for stamped concrete are for patios, pool decks, driveways and walkways. It has recently become popular and wise to use stamped concrete for interior floors in homes. It is a great option for interior flooring because it resists water well (hardwood floors always have the problem of deterioration under water spills) and it is much more allergen friendly and cleaner than carpet.

Benefits of Concrete Stamping:
•	Quick Installation – Takes 2 to 3 days versus several weeks for natural stone or brick.
•	Unlimited Design Options – You can achieve almost any look imaginable – Stamped concrete can be made to look like natural stone, brick, wood or marble.
•	Texture Adds Traction – Stamping can provide additional traction when paving on a slope. The texture of stamped concrete can also prevent slips or falls, thereby improving the safety of public walkways.
•	Texture Adds Traction
•	Beautiful! – Stamped concrete can blend with almost any type of architecture.
•	Customization – You can add graphics, logos, or designs.

Concrete Sealer Benefits:

•	Protects against wear
•	Minimizes water from penetrating the concrete – Since the surface of concrete is porous, a non-sealed surface will allow water into the concrete. When the water freezes (as it does in colder climates) the water will expand and possibly cause damage to the concrete.
•	Blocks penetration of dirt, oil, grease, stains and chemicals – This will make the concrete easier to clean and maintain.
•	Adds a sheen to the surface – Ranging from satin to high gloss (like paint)
•	Enriches the color of decorative concrete
•	Reduces the chance of efflorescence (this is salts in the concrete coming to the surface and causing white blotches)

Types of Sealers:

•	Acrylic Sealer – The easiest to apply and the most economical sealer. It is available as both a solvent and water-based. Water-based sealers are typically used for interior concrete projects because they do not have fumes like the solvent-based sealers. Acrylics are much thinner than the other types of sealers, so it will wear faster and need to be re-sealed sooner.
•	Polyurethane Sealer – Also available as water or solvent-based. This sealer is twice as thick as an acrylic sealer so it provides better protection against de-icers (salt). This is a great option for exterior projects.Polyurethanes are moisture-intolerant until they cure, so if there is any water on the surface when the sealer is applied, it will start foaming. In this case, you will need a seal stripper to remove the sealer and start again after the concrete is dry. Water-based polyurethanes are a nice option for interior projects because there are no fumes, they are easy to apply, and durable.
•	Epoxy Sealer – Epoxies are like the urethanes, but they are available in clear-pigmented and color options. The polyurethane sealers and acrylics do not have a color option. Epoxies have a tendency to “yellow” because of the UV (ultraviolet ray) exposure. Therefore, they should be limited to interior applications. Epoxies are the hardest to apply because they are very sticky.
•	DIY Sealing – After you have picked a sealer find out how to apply it.