Stamped Overlay versus Trowel Texture | Ultimate Concrete Coatings
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HOMEStamped Overlay versus Trowel Texture
Posted by UltimateCoatings on Tuesday, April 19, 2011 ·
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Our potential clients often ask us the differences between our stamped overlays and other companies’ coatings, as they do not understand the difference between stamping and troweled textures. There are significant differences that every homeowner should be aware of before making a decision about their concrete coating project.
Many coating companies offer an acrylic troweled texture coating. This most commonly resembles faux flagstone. Ultimate only offers stamped concrete overlays, which are available in three different textures of granite, slate, or flagstone.
A troweled coating is applied by troweling a cement mixture onto the top of existing concrete, usually at a thickness of approximately 1/8”. The colors on a troweled coating are often painted on. The grout lines are taped and painted. Usually one coat of sealer is applied.
Ultimate offers the three different textures mentioned above for our stamped overlays and we also offer the choice of a monolithic texture, meaning it is a continuous texture with no grout lines, or you can choose to have grout lines, i.e., flagstone pattern. We trowel on our cement based mixture and then we stamp the chosen texture into this material with large rubber stamps. The following day we open up all the movement joints and if a grouted pattern is selected, we draw these by hand with the customer’s approval. We then hand cut the grout lines. We layer the preselected colors on top of each other to create varying degrees of depth, which creates the appearance of natural stone. Our grout lines are filled with real grout to maintain this natural appearance. We then apply two coats of sealer with nonskid to protect the coating from staining or fading.
STAMPED OVERLAY TROWELED TEXTURE
Great heat reduction to touch Little or no heat reduction due to lack of texture.
¼”-1/2” thick 1/8” thick
Appearance of real stone Looks unnatural
Lasts as long as the surface applied to Lasts approximately 3-5 years.
Once one understands the difference in materials and labor that goes into our concrete coatings projects, it’s easier to understand why we charge more for our coating. The end result is far superior in workmanship, appearance, and longevity. It’s akin to comparing a Chevy Impala to a Corvette! Stamping is a step above troweled textures. It more closely resembles real stone, is cooler to touch (great around pools), and also our stamped overlays carry a lifetime warranty against bond failure. Our stamping is a custom process designed specifically for you. No two of our projects are the same. Each one is unique due to our client’s specific needs being applied into the project.