Coloured Concrete

Colour in the mix, not on the surface

There are two ways to get coloured concrete and they age completely differently.

Through the mix. Oxide or coloured aggregate batched into the concrete before it is poured, so the colour goes all the way down. Chip it, grind it, wear it for twenty years, and the colour underneath is the same colour as the top.

On the surface. Stains, dyes and coatings applied after the pour. Cheaper on day one and it will look identical. Then it wears at the traffic points, weathers unevenly, and eventually it has to be stripped and redone.

We pour the first kind. If someone has quoted you a coloured driveway for noticeably less, it is worth asking which of those two they mean.

Choosing a colour that still works in five years

The mistake is matching the colour to the house exactly. Render gets repainted, and a driveway does not. Better to pick something that sits comfortably beside a range of wall colours: warm neutrals like a coral or wattle tone, or cool greys like a basalt.

Two practical points. Darker mixes hold heat, which matters anywhere people walk barefoot. And colour varies slightly batch to batch, so a large area poured across two loads can show a line if the pour is not planned around it.

See a poured sample

Concrete colour looks different dry, wet, sealed and in Perth daylight, and a brochure swatch shows you none of that. Ask to see it poured before you commit. Any concreter who will not show you one is telling you something.

Two we have done

A double driveway in a basalt and pepper mix with dark inlay squares set into the pour, picked up from the brickwork and the garage doors. And a coral mix driveway and entrance for an architectural home, warm toned so it sits with the render and stone rather than fighting it.

Get a price

Ring Regan on 0433 510 118.