O/T Anyone have stamped concrete?

[pnutmnm]

My front sidewalk is crumbling and it is time to replace it. We are thinking about the stamped concrete and adding the ribbons down the driveway.

My questions: Do you like it? Is it durable (We live in Illinois)? Was it affordable?

We were quoted $2500 (which would rip out the old and dispose, add new sidewalk and ribbons). Is this a good price?

Thanks.

 

[bjakmom]

We have been considering the same thing for after we're done our renovations - we would either replace the sidewalks and take the concrete all the way to the street, or else just replace the (now) stone curb area between the sidewalk and the street with stamped concrete. I'll be interested in hearing what info you get, too!

 

[mamacatnv]

My next door neighbor put in a stamped/stained patio a couple of years ago. It is about 10x15 and ran them $2500.00

What I like about it is:

It looks really nice
The texture doesn't give me goosebumps when barefoot like smooth concrete does.
It has a slighly rusty color & nice sheen to it
Unlike pavers, there are no weeds, cracks or movement from hot/cold temps.

I know they are very pleased with it.

 

[daughtersrus]

My BIL and SIL have stained, stamped concrete along the driveway and the sidewalk/steps leading to their front door. They had it put in about two years ago after they completed an addition. It looks very nice and has a cobblestone pattern. They haven't had any problems and are also in IL.

I'm sorry but I don't know what the cost was.

 

[Kellydelly]

We live in SE Michigan and have stamped concrete front porch, front walk, the 18 inch border on sides of driveway, walkway to back patio, and back patio done. It looked BEAUTIFUL when it was first done. Now it's been there for 4.5 yrs and the area bordering the driveway and the walkway to the back patio have almost completely lost the release coloring (which is the colored powder they toss all over the top of the colored concrete to give it a contrast color). I don't know what we did to those two areas to make the color fade so fast, but I am really dissapointed. The front porch still looks fab, the front walkway looks pretty good, and the back patio looks pretty good too. I don't know if my husband was overzealous with the power sprayer when cleaning it (you are supposed to reseal it once or twice a season after cleaning it), or if the MI weather somehow made the release disappear ? We paid $10,000 to have all those areas done, as well as a new driveway poured (plain cement). I think we will end up having to add stain to the areas that lost their release color to spiffy it back up in the future.

 

[BellePrincessBelle]

My walkway is great my patio is a cracked mess. I would never do stamped concrete. The previous owner did it and I'm guessing they did it themselves and the patio was 1st by the time they got to the walkway they figured out about stress lines because I have a 30' x 13' patio with 1 stress line and the walkway has them every few feet like it should.

 

[Kellydelly]

My walkway is great my patio is a cracked mess. I would never do stamped concrete. The previous owner did it and I'm guessing they did it themselves and the patio was 1st by the time they got to the walkway they figured out about stress lines because I have a 30' x 13' patio with 1 stress line and the walkway has them every few feet like it should.

The guys who did ours didn't cut the stress lines properly (they tried to follow the slate pattern instead of just cutting straight lines across the patio) and it was amazing how fast every corner near their cuts cracked . Every crack you see show up after you've made such a big investment will make you want to cry . Cement cracks by nature, so it's to be expected; it just sucks anyway when it happens.

 

[mdsoccermom]

We have a 15x21 patio we had done about 6.5 years ago for $1700. It looks great and made a huge difference in the look. The only problem is that it does get slippery when wet. As far as the front walk goes, we asked about having that done. The guys said that the stamped work wouldn't look good on the walk because of the number of seams.

 

[Bren's Mom]

Our front walk is stained, stamped concrete. Was there when we bought the house. It looks ok, but is starting to have some frost heaves in places and the snow blower really chews it up. I don't know that I'd do stamped concrete when we finally replace it.

 

[kelcoppens]

My husband does stamped concrete work but unfortunately we are in PA otherwise, he would come over and give you an estimate! The price you were quoted depends on the size of your walkway. So since you didnt state that, I have no idea if that was a good price. But stamped concrete is modern and more people are going with it today, so I think that is a good choice.

 

[KristinU]

We have a stamped concrete patio that we had put in about 10.5 years ago. I think like with any concrete job, the result and durability really depends on the site prep and install. Frost heave would indicate to me that the base layers weren't as deep as they should have been. I also learned from our installer (also the brother of some close friends!) that the relative age of the concrete makes a difference. i.e. you want to be the first or second job of the day while the concrete is still fresh. Later in the day it is tougher to work with and is much more prone to cracks.

Ours still looks great. We do treat it every few years with water seal to help it maintain its color and to keep it in good shape (we're due to do that again this summer!) Since we had a hot tub when we first put it in, our installer used some additive in the initial sealant that made it more non-slip. We haven't found the need to look for an additive again when re-sealing it ourselves teh couple of times we've done it, but I'm sure a concrete place would be able to tell you what to use to make it less slippery.

I honbestly don't remember what we paid, but $2500 sounds like a decent price to me. We had a few "blocks" of our sidewalk in front of our house replaced 2 years ago, maybe 10-12 feet in length. Our town will either replace cracked sidewalk with asphalt for free or will go in halves with the homeowner for concrete. We went for the concrete and our half was $650. And that again, was about 10-12 feet and plain concrete.

 

[lady_bug_888]

My parents had a stamped concrete patio put in about 8 years ago. They live in Northern Alberta so it gets quite cold and even through all the weather it has endured, it has never cracked and has been a great investment for them. They paid about $2500 8 years ago but their patio is HUGE (I don't know the exact measurements). They had one problem a few months after it was done...the concrete cracked due to a faulty placement of the under structure. The company that did the project came back and fixed it for free and it has been great ever since. I'm sure it will last them for years to come!

 

[Melrosgirl]

We chose to go with a paver patio as opposed to stamped concrete. It's cold where we are and I felt you get more design choices with pavers. Pavers cost more and if done correctly, you should have few, if any, weeds. It also takes much longer to install than concrete (2 weeks as opposed to 2 days for our patio).

If a paver cracks, it's easy to replace with a new one.

 

[Melrosgirl]

We chose to go with a paver patio as opposed to stamped concrete. It's cold where we are (so concrete could be an issue) and I felt you get more design choices with pavers. Pavers cost more and if done correctly, you should have few, if any, weeds. It also takes much longer to install than concrete (2 weeks as opposed to 2 days for our patio).

If a paver cracks, it's easy to replace with a new one.

 

[mcrockett1220]

I am the President of a company that specializes in stamped, decorative concrete. Prices vary widely throughout the country, in our area (Maryland) the going rate averages between $9 and $14 per square foot; prices will differ also based on the pattern selected and how many colors the customer selects. We usually include one primary and one secondary color, but again some colors are considered premium or special order and will cost extra. I personally have several stamped concrete areas at my own home and I am very happy with them. I generally do not recommend specific patterns for driveways or areas around pools due to them being difficult to shovel snow/ice and/or they get more slippery than others due to the texture. ALL concrete can and may crack. If the concrete you are replacing is cracked is it more possible the concrete it is replaced with will eventually crack, because that may be an indication that the ground underneath is in an area of settlement and movement with temperature changes. There are some things that are done to help reduce the chances of that occurring, but it is always a possibility. A problem that sometimes occurs with stamped concrete is surface flaking or "popping" also called spalling. This is often related to the quality of the concrete, installers must rely on the quality of the concrete that is delivered from the plant. We had to go to strictly using one company after another company we used gave us several bad batches that consisted of too much water content.

 

[rickdeni]

If you are looking for longevity I would go with pavers. I was the Director of a library in Illinois (suburban) and when the library was built stamped concrete was done in the front of the building which was on a hill. It looked good for about 10 years but then it started to crumple and had to be dug up and was replaced with brick pavers. The brick pavers are still in good shape 20 years later and look like the day they were installed. The maintenance man did spray them for weeds.

 

[FINFAN]

we live in Illinois and put in a stamped concrete patio about 15 years ago. We choce the type where the colorant is mixed right into the concrete, not just the top layer. We love the low maintenence and have only had to power wash it once. It is on the North sid of our house so when it rains in the fall/winter is does tend to want to gather slight mildew since it is shaded then and stays mosit after rain etc. The color faded slightly, but we have a brick red with a white house ans the contrast is nice against the landscaping. We also went with a charcoal powder in the stamps( we have a slate pattern) and a very high gloss sealant. I can't remember the cost, but I amsure it was 2000 or less because I know that was our budget. Get addresses/opinions from past customers and go out and look at their product. We had people stopping by for a few years after ours was done, It helps so much to be able to actually see the companies work years after it was done.

 

[01spirit750]

Just be sure to get and visit their references.

I had a front porch done in stamped concrete. The installer claimed to have done a lot of stamped concrete. It looks terrible. They obviously knew nothing about getting the colors right and then they tried to add a stress line down the middle but the concrete was too hard by then.

I am going to install slate tiles over the top.

Also be carefully of pictures you see on the internet, most of them show a new installation and it has been wet down with water to enhance the colors in the picture.

Chris

 

[pklein09]

We've done a little research into stamped concrete versus pavers for a small area we'd like to do in our backyard when we eventually put a deck on the house. One of the things I found out from the guy who does our flower beds in the spring (who also installs pavers) is that pavers will not increase your tax basis for your house, a concrete patio will. The reason in our township: pavers are considered temporary and a concrete patio isn't. It may not make a difference where you live, but it will make a difference for us when we go to install ours. We still haven't decided yet....need to save the $$$ first!

Good luck!