Quite a lot of property owners can benefit significantly from replacing old, ailing concrete with a neat new overlay solution.
But how do you do that? Here are three main steps. This isn't the entire process, by any means, but thinking about these three things will help people to complete a project in a better way.
Concrete Demo Requirements
Before covering old, unsightly concrete with an overlay, there may be some demo that's required, and you should think about that when approaching a project for the first time.
A good example is those concrete pieces that often form a vertical construct at a right angle to your horizontal floor. Precast pieces are strung together to make walls and other accessories that might need to be taken out before you can start on adding beautiful pavers or anything else to the concrete exterior.
You can see whether some nearby party will take the old concrete as fill, but regardless, it needs to be gotten rid of. There may be some power washing or surface prep involved, too, which you may want to plan for.
Adhesives
When you go to install the overlay, you need the right underlying adhesives and materials. It’s sort of like the sand and gravel base that you might use for anchoring the original concrete on top of ripple raw earth. But it's different in the sense that one of your major goals is making sure the overlay adheres correctly to what's underneath it.
Our technicians and teams are skilled at doing this kind of adhesive work. When you DIY that, you might not have that same level of experience. You might run into problems with crumbly or poorly fitting exteriors and projects that don't last as long as you intend them to.
Materials
Then, too, you want the right exterior materials. You don't just want the cheapest ones, or the ones that are easiest to get, although that might seem preferable.
In fact, getting any kind of cheap materials is difficult these days, as project managers well know. The price of everything from lumber to laminate to precast concrete has jumped, and in some cases, hasn't come down for a while. So you’re left using the calculator to figure out what you can afford and put that into the overall equation.
These are just some of the things that we talk about with our customers as we move forward with excellent paver overlay projects. Talk to Blue Morning Landscapes about what you can do to enhance your property.