Larger Than Life

[NS'Creter]

Last fall we demo'd a bunch of old 'crete and placed new stuff for that curvy soldier course brick job that we have to stain and engrave. At the bottom front steps (actual brick) we placed a 7' circle that is joined to one of the curvy walkways. Anyway, when I was there talking colors with them I suggested that we continue the actual brick in the border and put a smaller brick circle at the center of the 7' one. Then I suggested a "G" for in that circle 'cause that's their surname initial. Well the homeowner wants...really, really wants...a 3' "G" with no smaller brick circle. I'll make the template and do it 'cause he's Hell bent to have that now... ...larger than life, huh?

[alexwright]

I went to Tijuana, Mexico the other day and at a shopping center outside they had cut tile patterns into concrete. No stain no color no nothing. Just plain old cuts at a 45 angle within a border. Not large areas, just placed about 25 feet apart and the cut areas were about 5' x 10'. I tell you what that looked pretty awesome. Very inexpensive I assume and quite easy to sell I believe. Because no maintenance and still get a curb appeal as well as appeal to those walking on it. I was quite impressed with the look and the difference it made. LIGHT BULB!!! I am going to start hitting all the local outdoor malls and stores and offering this plain cut tile look. I can definitely make a good living at just making cuts. Plus pretty easy money and very fast money. Customers will not be affected nor business because we work with vacuums. Believe me it looks good without color and we can give killer deals that we can still make loads of money. I'm excited about it.

[NS'Creter]

That is cool Alex...and no heavy duty prep work to be done! How do you propose charging for this new design service? It is very interesting.

[alexwright]

Not sure just yet, for my tile cuts I usually charge $1.00 extra per sq ft but this is a whole different show. I guess it depends on size of area, I really have not had a chance to sit down and actually think. I lost two days last week and I have been playing catch up ever since and the weekend with family I try not to think about work and I did a good job of that this weekend. Any ideas? Maybe at the start I'll have to see how much I want to make and go from there. Any input is appreciated. Maybe I would invest in a generator so that I could run my goose and vacuum and not have to try to find electricity as I went along. Plus each store front pays there own electricity. No prep work, just arrive measure, chalk line design, and cut away. When done re-vacuum anything missed and collect check and walkaway. No worries of stain or sealer failure or anything.

[alexwright]

Another lightbulb today!!!!!! A customer of mine had some broken concrete stacked on a hillside and I mentioned to them I could acid stain them to match the other rocks they have. They said OK so today I sprayed them. Looked awesome. So if anyone is looking to decorate their yard with stones this is a way to do it. Get broken concrete and stack so that bottom broken side is on top and stain away. If you can't find broken concrete just call local concrete contractors and let them know they can dump it for free at your place or wherever you need it. I just sprayed them and dumped buckets of neutralizer on it after the 4 hours. My customers were ecstatic about it. By the way I just did their whole house indoors. This was the job with the wood oak strips in floor. Finally done, it came out awesome. My customers love it. They design famous theme parks and guess who's on there #1 list of stainers and engravers if needed?

[NS'Creter]

Right on Alex! I've done that with the chunks here too. I was using them for practice and color mixing...stuff like that. Then after we did a few jobs where we demo'd some old 'crete to place new I had too much of it laying around so I did exactly what you did. It does look pretty cool.

You need to keep those foks lovin' ya ! A big theme park job would be very cool.

[takenforgranit]

When you acid stain the bottom side of broken concrete what effect does it have on the aggregate? The next question is what type gravel do they use there. Here crushed linestone is the usual and I had it in my mind that ijust stays while when you get acid on it. Do you seal it after you stain it? This idea sounds interesting please give more details of how you did this, do you fill in around the edges with soil?

[NS'Creter]

Sorry Mike, I didn't mean to leave your question hangin' there buddy. The most common aggregate here is the crushed limestone and some granite. In older slabs that we've demo'd I have even found seashells and glass! Anyway, in my experience the aggregate does exactly what you'd expect...nuthin'. It still has a certain appeal to it, though. I haven't gone so far as to strategically place these chunks in a planned landscape. I've kinda stacked 'em a created a bit of a wall kinda thing here in my yard. It wasn't an intentional thing, but I noticed that it had some potential and did some spraying with different RAC colors. Also, I haven't actually sealed any of this but if I ever get time I plan to work the arrangement a little better and spray some solvent sealer on it. It's only about 18" high, but looks pretty cool. I can see how this could be used in a landscape design and work very well in all sorts of manners. As a small wall, or as stepping stones in a flower garden, nested in mulch or even gravel...or how about marble and granite chips from the headstone manufacturer? Yep, I can see it workin'. If it caught on think of the construction debris that could be saved from a landfill. Cool.

[alexwright]

The rock does nothing and as for sealing no. A lot of rocks colors are just the same scenario as acid stain, except God's creation does it all on its own. So with mine in particular, the rocks around this ranch are the same process basically. There will be no one walking on these but the lizards and other critters so it doesn't need sealer. Any fading of color or whatever it does can only look more natural. These are just piled up on an embankment. I have seen a few walls around here where the broken pieces of concrete are mortared together to make walls or pieced together stone driveways. If your curious just grab you a chunk of broken concrete from a landfill or recycling place, dab some acid stain and remove all doubts.

[takenforgranit]

That is very interesting, I can't wait til I have some time to give that a try. The acid re -colors the "paste" and the aggregate stays the same, is that correct? Multi colored creek rock as ag. would have many possibilities.

[NS'Creter]

WhooooHooooo!!! ;D ;D ;D The weather finally gave us enough time to finish the "curvy" one that started this thread. Man! That one went on for a while...it started last year. By the time we had colors decided upon and delivered and then the frickin' rain ...anyway, it's done. Everyone is happy.

[NS'Creter]

I never did say what I did about that big ol' "G" Well, I didn't make a template and engrave it. I was afraid to in case it was done and they decided that it wasn't what they wanted. I freehanded an Old English "G" with stain only in the place specified and they loved it. I think that the body of the letter should maybe be thicker/wider but they like it just as it is. What the heck? It's not for me but they're happy.

[alexwright]

On Monday an associate and I that I just met through the janitorial store are going to do the floor at the jstore in a warehouse area that they are going to open up for high end stone section. They are the ones that advertise my pictures on their wall next to the register and everybody elses cards are on a board on a wall that no one really looks at. Anyhow we are going to do a showroom for ourselves. We can do whatever we want on it. They already knocked out a wall that just draws attention to this room plus from both regist,ers you have to look at the floor because it's behind their counter and is very inviting. We are going to do it up and we should get more customers from this, plus we will now have a showroom to send people to. Plus I am looking into a partnership with this store in possibly becoming a distributor. They have warehouse and knowlege there plus I have the application knowledge and can hold the classes and tech rep. Plus this company will allow me to still be a contractor and any leads come to me exclusively for my area. Anyhow we're looking into it to see if it's feasible. It all boils down to money but maybe I can borrow and get this going, there is already a customer base in my area.

[alexwright]

Oh yeah, they are also going to bring in broken concrete for their planters outside and also for an embankment they have out front and we are going to acid stain them. There is a good sized parking area on the side where we can have our classes and have concrete poured for our classes if we end up doing the distributorship.

[NS'Creter]

Right on Alex! That seems like a cool opportunity. My biggest fear regarding teaching classes was that I'd be teaching my competition. It would be different where you are....many,many more people.