If you want walkways on your property to keep people from walking on and killing your grass, you might want to hire a residential concrete contractor to put in stamped concrete to give the walkways an attractive appearance.

With stamping and added color, your walkways could look like they're made of red bricks, flagstone, or any other type of stone or tiles. Here's how concrete stamping is done.

Build The Walkways

The first step is to build the walkways the same way basic concrete walkways are built. The contractor has to clear grass out of the way and compact the soil. Then they build a frame that will hold the concrete in place.

The concrete is poured, and when the concrete reaches just the right stage of dryness, but before it gets too hard, stamping is done. Stamping requires careful timing and a large enough crew to get the work completed before the concrete becomes too hard to work with.

Add Color And Start Stamping

Color can be added at various stages depending on how you want the walkways to look when the job is finished. If you want a uniform color, the color may be added when the concrete is mixed. If you want a mix of colors, the residential concrete contractor might add color powder after the concrete is poured and before using the stamp designs.

When it's time to start stamping, the crew uses large stamps they press into the concrete and move across the walkways to get the job done as quickly as possible.

When your contractor plans the installation of the driveway, they also plan how the stamping will be done, such as where it will start and how the crew will work. Having everything planned out in advance enables the crew to get the stamping completed while the concrete is still easy to work with.

Finish With A Sealcoat

Sealcoating is the final step in concrete stamping. The coating brings out the color in the walkway and adds sheen to the surface. The coating also protects the color and concrete so your walkways stay attractive for a long time.

Concrete stamping is ideal for walkways since the stamps can create a variety of patterns and designs that give your yard an attractive appearance. You can have stamping done on your driveway, patio, and anyplace else there is concrete on your property.

Stamping can be done when the project is first built, and it can also be done to an existing patio, driveway, or walkway by adding a thin overlay over the old concrete and stamping the overlay.