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Cementing a New Image

Concrete gets a facelift -- going from drab driveways to creative countertops

House Doctor | Gary Dymski

November 13, 2003

When Candace Stevens finally decided on a countertop, she told her contractor exactly what she wanted.

"He looked at me like I had six heads," she says.

In retrospect, Stevens and her husband, Craig, were challenging designer Scott Wyatt of Masonry Solutions. After all, Wyatt had assured them he could create any kind of countertop in virtually any color.

And he did.

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The Stevenses got exactly what they wanted: a rich, navy blue surface, with a slightly rough texture. Set against off-white wood cabinets, the remodeled kitchen provides the perfect hint of country charm they wanted for their 110-year-old home, a converted sawmill in Smithtown.

But wait just a minute. We're not talking granite or Corian. We're talking a countertop of concrete - the same dingy, gray stuff that covers sidewalks and parking lots.

But this concrete looks nothing like that concrete.

Polished, stamped, stained, etched with acid and enhanced with pigments and hardeners, this concrete has limitless design possibilities - for countertops, floors and even walls. Its well-deserved reputation for durability has made concrete a popular interior material in the Southwest and other warm-weather states for the past decade.

And lately, homeowners throughout the Northeast are warming up to the idea.

"For about the past 20 years, and perhaps even a little longer, concrete has been used in commercial buildings in a variety of ways," says Jim Peterson, president of the Concrete Network, an Internet information service for contractors, designers and homeowners. "People see these unique concrete floors and countertops in restaurants, banks and department stores, and they're saying, 'I want that for my home.'"

California, Arizona, Nevada and Florida are hot spots for interior concrete applications, says Wyatt, who has been cementing his craft for the past 20 years - shaping, coloring and stamping concrete so it looks like virtually anything. The craft is sort of a blend of faux painting and masonry. So when it came to the Stevenses' countertop, Wyatt wasn't fazed by their concrete request. But navy blue? That was a novelty for Wyatt, who first worked with concrete in Arizona and California, then moved to Las Vegas, where architects and designers of new casinos and hotels have utilized it in the city's construction boom of the past decade.

"If you look in the hotels and casinos there, much of the flooring and countertops is concrete," Wyatt says.

Countertops and interior flooring can be created from concrete in several ways, but perhaps the most common is an overlay technique. In countertops, wet cement is poured into a wood form. After it hardens to its desired shape, a thin overlay material - usually 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch - is used to create the design and color. In flooring, existing concrete floors - basements and patios, for example - often are chemically cleaned, and the overlay material is applied to the prepared surface.

To achieve various designs, the overlay material is modified with polymers and latexes and can be wet-stamped with rubberlike forms and treated with powdered and liquid pigments. After drying, the overlay also can be polished, acid-etched and stained to achieve more texture or color. The results can be anything from polyurethane-coated countertops that simulate natural stone to reddish, mahogany-hued floor planks that look like wood.

To resist cracking and chipping, these overlays are nearly twice as hard as traditional concrete. (They are 4,500 to 6,000 pounds per square inch, or psi, to resist pressure that could cause them to break down compared with the usual 3,000 to 4,000 psi for driveways and patios.) Because the work is labor intensive, countertops can start at about $50 to $60 per square foot - a little less costly than granite and about the same as high-end acrylic surfaces. Depending on preparation, flooring can run $8 to $11 per square foot.

Vertical concrete, which features a wide range of texture and color, is the technical term for wall applications. Sprayed over most unpainted drywall, this surface resists mold and mildew and is popular in basements and outdoor porches. If you've got rambunctious kids, it's a lot more durable than wallpaper and paint. Figure on about $10 to $20 per square foot.

As homeowner demand for indoor designer concrete increases, Peterson says, experienced concrete contractors are giving up drab, gray porches, patios and walkways for designer looks. And many of the new contractors entering the field have artistic backgrounds.

In the New York area, contractors who have switched from dull to designer include John Danielle of Concrete Impressions in Bay Shore, George Mandryk of GMR Renovations in Staten Island and Gary DeCanio of Extreme Concrete Designs in Setauket. Danielle and Mandryk worked for years pouring patios and walkways, and DeCanio's specialty was preparing concrete for design applications.

DeCanio and his sons, Kyle and Waylon, have been at the design end for two years, primarily installing floors and countertops in Manhattan lofts and New York City stores, shops and restaurants.

"We're probably doing four to five countertops and 10 to 20 floors each month," DeCanio says, "and most of it now is commercial. But as we get more and more calls, it's starting to break down to about 50-50 (half commercial, half residential)."

Amityville homeowners Bill and Silvia Rose chose a stamped patio a few years ago. After Danielle's company finished the patio, the Roses liked the look so much they decided to extend it to the floor of their sun porch. "I really love it," Silvia says of the stamped flagstone look. "We have nieces and nephews and a granddaughter, and they ride their bikes on this, and it really holds up. To clean it, I can vacuum or sweep and mop it. It comes out looking great."

While the Roses like concrete's durability, Candace and Craig Stevens like the material's design features. "When we first started looking for a countertop, we figured we'd get granite," Candace says. "But as we looked and looked, well, everyone we knew seemed to have granite. We wanted something unique."

Mary Valaika Thomas knows the feeling. She and her husband, Landon, explored all types of countertop possibilities for their Manhattan apartment. "I knew I didn't want granite," she says. "I chose concrete because it has sort of an earthy look, and it's harder than limestone, another material we liked."

The Thomases hired Mandryk to create a two-tiered countertop in soft shades of light gray and off-white. The result: the strength of concrete and the natural look of limestone.

"I'm sort of into the design aspect of materials, and we worked with an architect," Mary says. "I think for people who care about the aesthetics, concrete is going to be a popular choice." WILL IT CRACK? No matter what contractors tell you, virtually all concrete has the potential to crack eventually. However, because indoor concrete is not subject to freeze-thaw cycles and drastic changes in temperature, it is less likely to crack in floor and wall applications.

When used for countertops, the material is mixed with fibers and latex that resist cracking. Since no one is driving or walking on concrete countertops, they won't crack as easily as patios or driveways.

"In flooring, small hairline cracks often become part of the design," says John Danielle of Concrete Impressions in Bay Shore. "Most of the time, you hardly notice a hairline crack."

If a crack expands and becomes noticeable, it can be repaired with a process similar to patching drywall. When dry, the new concrete can be stained to match the existing surface.

One drawback in the look of concrete flooring is the use of expansion joints, which are saw cuts made into the surface. These cuts allow expansion and contraction and are designed to reduce surface cracks. Often the saw cuts can be camouflaged by lines in the design or pattern.