impressiverestorations.com Blog

Sometimes we do work that even we are jealous of. This job was one of those “I wish we had this at home” kind of jobs. The homeowners had cracked tiles on the floor of the shower, and along the outer ridge. They knew that the shower pan leaked, and wanted it all replaced and the plumbing pressure checked. They had seen pebble stone showers in Hawaii, and loved the idea. We sourced several stones, and these are the ones they chose.

We at Impressive Restorations, and the homeowners love it. They were a breeze to work for, and all are happy. Thanks Eddie and Angela!

One of the biggest differences between Impressive Restorations and the local competition is technique. There are many companies that will do a simple stamped overlay, with a spray stain application, seal it and charge you good money for it. While there is nothing wrong with that, it is very limited in the effects you can create.

In contrast Impressive Restorations crew/family members use hand application methods to control the surface textures. On first coats we use a squeegee to ensure smooth finishes and most importantly for leveling purposes. Following that, when we have a level surface, we use a hand trowel to control closely the application of texture coats. Using this hand work gives us may different effects and finishes. One example is a hand applied faux stone we recently used on a front porch. The “stones” were given a rougher texture, that we used to our advantage during the drying phase to give the stones a “burnished” look. This makes the raised part of the texture part of the design by darkening the concrete in those high areas. The effect is very realistic in person. You do not get this effect by using a stamp.

[caption id="attachment_26" align="alignnone" width="190" caption="After Tuscan "Tile" Concrete "][/caption][caption id="attachment_24" align="alignnone" width="190" caption="Before Brick Pavers and Mortar"][/caption]It's funny, you bid a job, give an estimate and start to work. You never really know what you are getting into until you get into it... so to speak.

On a recent job the crew set to work to remove a kitchen floor of brick pavers and mortar. Around 300 sq. ft. We were told by the homeowner that they put it down 12 years ago or so, themselves. The pavers were only supposed to be a quarter of an inch thick. We assumed they would come up pretty easily. Notice the word "assumed." When we got to work, we took a demo hammer drill, various hand tools, and the four of us got to work.

Needless to say, the homeowner was mistaken in the depth of the pavers, the mastic used to put them down with etc. After this photo it took all four of us two full days with two demo hammers and tenting off the rest of the house etc. We basically pulverized the pavers and mortar. It was a pain, but well worth the effort in the end. We then had a clear slate to do our designing thing with. We decided on an 18 in sq. set on diagonal design. The finished look of the kitchen is to take on a "Tuscan" theme. The homeowners trusted our decisions for color etc. We really had fun with our color process. No one can match it, and that's not braggin' cause it's true. We hand colored these faux tiles in many colors with the resulting unduplicatable look. Needless to say it was all worth the extra time in demolition work to have this as the finished product. The homeowners are so happy with it that they want us to do their front porch, back patio, and their daughter's house!