Stamped Concrete in Aurora, IL

Stamped concrete starts as an ordinary slab. While the surface is still plastic, we press textured mats into it, add color, and later seal it, so the finished patio, walk or border reads as slate, flagstone, cobble, brick or wood plank. Aurora homeowners choose it for a stone look without hundreds of separate pavers that can shift after a hard winter, and without sand joints where weeds take root.

Good places for it

• Back patios, often framed by a border in a second color
• Front entries and stoops, especially on brick or stone houses
• Driveway borders and aprons, adding pattern without covering the whole drive
• Pool decks and fire pit areas, using a textured pattern and anti-slip grit in the sealer

We generally steer people away from stamping a whole driveway or a steep walk. Deep texture holds packed snow, and sealed stamped surfaces are slicker when wet than broom-finished concrete.

Where the color comes from

Most stamped work uses two colors. The base color is integral: pigment goes into the concrete at the batch plant, so the slab is colored through its full depth and a chip does not reveal gray. Before the mats go down, a release agent is spread on the surface to keep them from sticking. It settles into the low spots and leaves them darker, which gives the two-tone look of natural stone. Sealer on top deepens both colors and protects the surface.

Choosing a pattern

Ashlar slate, a mix of rectangles in several sizes, is a common patio pick because it reads as cut stone. Random stone and flagstone look more natural near planting beds. Running bond or herringbone brick fits older homes with brick facades. Wood plank works on smaller areas next to a deck. At the estimate we bring pattern photos and color charts and talk through how the pattern lines up with doors, steps and the house wall.

Get a Free Estimate

Winter and the sealer

A stamped slab faces the same freezes as any other, with one extra weak point: its sealer. In walking paths the sealer wears thin, and once it is gone, water and salt reach the colored surface. That is when stamped concrete fades and begins to scale. We pour stamped work on a compacted stone base with air-entrained concrete, run control joints along pattern lines where they disappear into the design, and seal after the cure. Keep salt off stamped concrete completely; sand gives traction without the damage.

New pour or overlay

A sound, level slab can sometimes take a stamped overlay, a thin patterned topping, instead of a tear-out. HomeGuide's resurfacing guide lists stamped overlays at $7 to $15 a square foot for a single pattern and up to about $20 for complex designs. An overlay cannot fix a slab that has sunk, heaved or cracked through, and those cracks will reappear in the new surface. In that case a new stamped slab is the better spend.

Keeping it sharp

Sweep, rinse, and wipe up oil or food spills before they soak in. Reseal every few years, sooner along heavy-traffic paths, or whenever water stops beading and the color looks flat. Stamped concrete that is resealed on time holds its color for years; skipped resealing is what makes it look tired.