Concrete Porches

You no longer have to think of concrete as gray and unsightly when you have it as the flooring of your porch. Concrete porches can be just as decorative as other areas of the home with stamped concrete designs. There are a variety of patterns to choose from for transforming your dull porch into an elegant entryway to your home. These include such designs as cobblestone, London slate, herringbone, and Limestone European fan.

Once you decide on this method for your porch, you should know that it does require regular maintenance. It will need to be cleaned and sealed on a regular basis, but this does depend on the amount of traffic the concrete receives. Experts in the business recommend that you reseal the concrete every two or three years, because any longer than that will cause the colors to fade.

The process of stamping concrete is relatively easy. First off al you have to even the slabs of concrete with a deep-cut pattern to prevent any cracking from occurring. It is best to use sawed joints to divide the concrete slabs into squares. Before you pour the concrete, you should lay out the squares so that you have a pattern to follow. When mixing the cement, you have to make sure that it is not too dry or too wet. If it is too wet, you will have to wait longer for it to dry and if it is too dry, it will be very hard to achieve the stamping pattern. Try to minimize the amount of hand tooling that you do when filling in the form pattern around the edges.

When you are finished, visitors will find it hard to tell the difference between the concrete and brick, slate or flagstone and will surely compliment you on your porch.