Coloured Concrete Driveway - Top layer or Coloured Through?

goose95qr · Apr 28, 2009 12:09 pm

I have been getting quotes for coloured concrete (mocha colour) for about 55sqm of driveway and 20sqm of pathways and besides the costs varying considerably, the products and applications concreters are recommending are very different.

I started out specifying CCS (Concrete colour systems) colour through pigment but then I have had a couple of concreters say that colouring the top layer is fine, the colour through can weaken the concrete and problems can occur. They have said that once its sealed there will be no colour variations and the colour will be around longer than me. Does anyone have experience with how colouring the top layer works and whether this is just as good, it seems to be a lot cheaper?

Australian5Star · Apr 28, 2009 1:08 pm

I had a new house built in 1999 and we went for the option of coloured on top and now it looks terrible. It is all patchy and i feel it all needs to be redone.
I suppose it all depends on who does the job and how good they are but I would recommend for my experience to get the colour right through the concrete.

guest · Apr 28, 2009 1:27 pm

If you put the color on top you still need to seal the concrete with colored sealer, this prevents it from goign patchy.

Australian5Star · Apr 28, 2009 2:23 pm

As far as I remember they put one coat of sealer on it at the time.
Im not sure if this sealer needs to be reapplied over time which we didnt.
It sounds as though they have explained to you in alot more detail than we were

Good luck with it

donuts · Apr 28, 2009 2:31 pm

goose95r .... I don't know about the mocha colour but I went with CCS 'Oyster' colour and it came out HEAPS lighter than the brochure ::angry::

my driveway looks like any old concrete you see on the footpath instead of the nice colour we paid extra for ... so just beware of this.

We got colour all the way through, no experience with just on top sorry.

davinci · Apr 28, 2009 4:27 pm

advantage of colour oxide in actual mix is you chip the conc. it is still cololured but the oxide is not uv stable and will deteriorate so it needs clear sealing
oxide can cause concrete to bleed and go off to quickly ie: rapid drying can increase cracking

'dusting' colour hardener on top of fresh conc. is fine but again it needs colour sealing.

dollar wise it is cheaper to pour plain conc. and colour seal

sealer needs re applying app. every two years dependant on location and amount of traffic etc weather you have plain conc. dust hardener or oxide mix

Pixelated · Apr 28, 2009 5:30 pm

I can only relate what happened to a good friend of mine.

She was convinced by the company she decided to go with to apply the colour to the top only, as colour through was more expensive.

She deeply regrets taking that advice. Within a day of having it done, she noticed how uneven the colour was. She rang the company and they told her it would look better in a week. A month and many phone calls later it did not improve. The company applied another coat of sealer and it still did not improve. They gave every excuse under the sun and now all she is left with is a patchy driveway.

She has just sold her house so it's now somebody elses problem.

Pix ::smile::

kassan1973 · Apr 28, 2009 5:50 pm

beware of using colour through the mix as it reduces the mpa if you require 25 mpa i would suggest ordering 30. Just put colour over top and seal with aust slate crete sealer this has alot of colour and covers very well

onc_artisan · Apr 28, 2009 6:28 pm

Colour will reduce the strength of concrete by only a few %... to reduce 25mpa concrete to 20mpa
a 20% reduction in cement is required.
We do heaps of coloured benchtops with heavy colour and they are still hard as rocks

goose95qr · Apr 29, 2009 1:06 pm

Thanks for everyones input, very helpful. The colour I am looking at is CCS Mangrove, which is a dark mocha, but I have a feeling that the colours come out a fair bit lighter than brochures make them look. I think given the likelihood of further work, its best to go with a colour through the mix and may just specify a higher mpa instead of 25.

Apparently CCS is quite expensive now as the concrete trucks have to be washed out properly. Does anyone know what I should be paying total for CCS driveway/pathway (total: 75sqm, 55 sqm of driveway, 20sqm of pathway - which includes 5 steps) - I have read $60-75 on these forums generally as a good price, but the first quotes I am getting back are in the $110-120 range?

Does anyone know a good concreter in Sydney that does CCS?

Southies · Apr 29, 2009 6:08 pm

goose95qr, have you been out ot Minchinbury - is this a display centre ?
We are at the stage where we have to choose a colour. We were going to go with Kolormasta by HANSON
http://www.hansoncm.biz/pdfs/Imagecrete/Imagecrete%20Web%20Brochure%20-%20Sydney.pdf
but they don't seem to have a display here.

Terrian · May 01, 2009 9:33 pm

get the concrete with the colour through it, yes, there will be a wash out fee, but it is worth the extra.

goose95qr · Aug 17, 2009 10:06 pm

Hi All,

I thought I would finish up this conversation with our experiences in the hope it helps others:

1. We went with a coffee type look (CCSMangrove) and you definitely have to make sure its a few shades darker than what you like on the sample.
2. THe concretor didn't have a great deal of experience with colour in the mix, he recommended oxides before we started. There was a bit of rain on some parts but CCS said it shouldn't have affected the colour.
3. There was quite a bit of dis-colouration across the different sections of driveway and pathways. CCS first advised me to let it dry for 30 days as there was quite a lot of efflorescence (white - salt). Even after cleaning with acid and gurneying, it didn't really go away.
4. CCS then advised me to use a coloured sealer.

Was this any better than using an oxide, Im not sure? The customer service from the local CCS guy was good, but ultimately is the product any better?

davinci · Aug 18, 2009 4:55 pm

treat conc. with anti-eff for salt residue you can get it from most paving suppliers but follow the directions to a 't't or say goodbye to concrete and any metail surfaces it touchs

Southies · Aug 18, 2009 5:05 pm

We have colour-through concrete also, only about 4 weeks old & it also has a patchy whitish look to it.

Is this going to be permanent ::surprise::

? I would rather not have to resort to using anti-eff, if it is that tricky to deal with ::surprise::

Getjason · Aug 20, 2009 6:02 pm

HI Im new to this site but not new to most concrete problems,
Been involved with concrete most my working life and love to help anyone out

First of all The Blotchy look can be caused by many different things, too much water, crappy day all resullting in differentual curing. If you have whitening on the surface it could be effloressence caused by the salts coming out of the concrete. If the sealer is white then it has bloomed or too thickly applied.
I dont use colour through or Micro toppings for all my work as they have far more issues each and getting a desired colour time after time with both those systems is impossible

Hope i can help with your questions
feel free to pm me :th:

brittany · Aug 20, 2009 8:20 pm

We have the colour on top (two months now) and it's not blotchy yet..... I'm hoping it never is. It hasn't been sealed as we've been advised to wait until the weather warms a little. Ours is charcoal and is very very close to black which is what we wanted

Southies · Aug 20, 2009 8:55 pm

Bugger!

Is the application of sealer supposed to be delayed for a specific period ? Ours went on pretty quickly after the driveway was done. Was this wrong ? ::surprise::

guest · Aug 20, 2009 9:52 pm

Sealer need to go on asap, otherwise the concrete needs to be high pressure acid cleaned to remove dirt and provide a clean surface for the sealer to stick to. Other wise the sealer well flake off.

Concreater · Aug 20, 2009 10:59 pm

Only same day sealers can go on asap and that is only a first coat. A second coat of a high build sealer or similar would be required.
7 days usual rule of thumb b4 sealer goes down.

Colour through concrete is much better IMO. Use a premix company that is ceritified to Aus Build code standards.
If you order your conc to 20mpa you can bet it will test over 20mpa after 28days, coloured or not.This is why they are certified.

If ordering more than one load, order colour mixes to the exact cube. Eg 3.0m3 not a 2.8m3 or a 3.2m3.
This way bags of colour dont need to be split.

Keep all your conc loads the same slump, a wet mix will colour up lighter than a dry one.

A job that is half in the shade half in sun has the potential to finish looking patchy if not finished at the exact right time.

So many factors to take into account to get concrete right every time.