Carved Concrete Retainer Walls - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

jgray152 · 10-04-2009, 09:12 AM

Everything is concrete. Sand and Cement Stacked without forms. Shaped, carved and colored into stone.

jgray152 · 10-04-2009, 09:02 PM

nEighter · 10-04-2009, 09:27 PM

I saw some retaining wallls here down the road that were made.. Poured concrete. Then some guys came in and either painted or stained them.. looks REALLY convincing. Cool stuff there!

jgray152 · 10-04-2009, 09:43 PM

Could you take pictures of their work? I would like to see what they did

lukachuki · 10-05-2009, 09:27 AM

I know the opinions will differ a lot on this Masonry forum but personally I love it. I think concrete is the most amazing building material in the world and it's neat to see it used in this application. Someday when I get some money and time, I want to experiment with faux boulders and vertical stamping.

On the brown wall what did you use for color? Water based stain like smith colorwall?

jgray152 · 10-05-2009, 10:21 AM

I used 3 different acid stain colors, Dark Walnut, Black, Weathered Bronze. I mixed some together to get different variations.

I don't use any stamps for my vertical concrete work. I used trowels to carve out the rocks. You can then use plastic bags to round off the rocks and give them better textures.

shanekw1 · 10-05-2009, 10:23 AM

Nice looking stuff.

jgray152 · 10-05-2009, 10:28 AM

Thank you!

**genecarp** · 10-05-2009, 10:30 AM

Nice, i love concrete anything

. G

jgray152 · 10-05-2009, 10:45 AM

Next year seems like it may be good as many people are taking my card and wanting stuff so I will be looking for a real "crew" next year. Anyone in new hampshire around greenfield /milford area? lol

skyhook · 10-05-2009, 12:21 PM

Very

cool.

nEighter · 10-05-2009, 12:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jgray152

Could you take pictures of their work? I would like to see what they did

Yes I will. I think your stuff is WAY better looking though. I will try to in the next couple days

lukachuki · 10-05-2009, 01:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jgray152

I used 3 different acid stain colors, Dark Walnut, Black, Weathered Bronze. I mixed some together to get different variations.

I don't use any stamps for my vertical concrete work. I used trowels to carve out the rocks. You can then use plastic bags to round off the rocks and give them better textures.

I'd like to come up there and help you with just one for free.....

I'm serious, I'd like to learn.

jgray152 · 10-05-2009, 01:59 PM

I can never turn down free help

There is a lot to learn.

How to use acid stains
What sealers to use
what tools to use
what type of mix you need to order and how to order it
how to stack the concrete without forms. Sometimes 4-5' high!
how to install drainage (if you need it)
how to add textures
process for carving the concrete
and more..

Also things like;

What if this happends?
What do I do now?
Crap, these colors are not what the bottle says, what do I do?
Concrete is to hard to carve by hand, how do I finish the wall without loosing it?
and more..

I am thinking of holding seminars eventually but thats a ways away so free help for now is always good

This is something that you would want to have experience on AT LEAST 2 walls. 1 wall you will get the idea but two walls you might start to feel comfortable. This year was slow but next year I hope to be busy as heck so maybe I can line up some jobs close together

lukachuki · 10-05-2009, 03:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jgray152

I can never turn down free help

There is a lot to learn.

How to use acid stains
What sealers to use
what tools to use
what type of mix you need to order and how to order it
how to stack the concrete without forms. Sometimes 4-5' high!
how to install drainage (if you need it)
how to add textures
process for carving the concrete
and more..

Also things like;

What if this happends?
What do I do now?
Crap, these colors are not what the bottle says, what do I do?
Concrete is to hard to carve by hand, how do I finish the wall without loosing it?
and more..

I am thinking of holding seminars eventually but thats a ways away so free help for now is always good

This is something that you would want to have experience on AT LEAST 2 walls. 1 wall you will get the idea but two walls you might start to feel comfortable. This year was slow but next year I hope to be busy as heck so maybe I can line up some jobs close together

Yeah well sounds interesting....we already do a lot with concrete ie acid staining, sealing, finishing, stamping etc but still I'm sure I would learn a lot.....

jgray152 · 10-05-2009, 03:31 PM

Ah, then you already have an upper hand and this shouldn't be that hard for you to learn.

CJKarl · 10-05-2009, 06:36 PM

Ahhh, so your the guy asking about exposing aggregate.

jgray152 · 10-05-2009, 07:15 PM

Well not just any aggregate. Specifically granite aggregate in a process to form a granite looking step.

I can expose aggregate all day long without issues, just stepping it up a notch in the other thread.

Resta · 10-05-2009, 07:31 PM

Good looking

What you do in the winter?

mikeswoods · 10-05-2009, 10:47 PM

I am looking forward to more of this...........................................MIK E