Products

Concrete - Exterior

Exposed Aggregate is concrete, which has the surface of the finished concrete “exposed” to reveal the aggregates hidden within the concrete. It is very popular throughout New Zealand because of its hardwearing surface and natural look. It is especially suited to driveways and higher traffic areas.
There are a variety of aggregates which can be either added to the concrete itself or seeded into the surface. You can also introduce coloured oxides into the concrete itself at the batching plant to suit different colour schemes.
Exposed Aggregate can be left unsealed or sealed depending on ones desired look and the amount of traffic it is likely to receive. When sealed, it is recommended that sealing be repeated every 3 - 4 years.
Exposed-Aggregate-Christchurch
Plain Concrete can be left as it is or coloured by mineral oxide powders, which are added to the concrete at the
batching plant, and the entire mix of the concrete is coloured. Or, it can be coloured by use of colour hardeners, which are broadcast into the wet surface of the freshly poured concrete and manually worked into the concrete.

Coloured Concrete is a great way to dress up the look of your concrete. It is also used in combination with other finishes like Stamped Concrete and Exposed Aggregate Concrete.
Your concrete can be textured in numerous ways to get different looks.
This could be:-
- Smooth Trowelled
- Rollered. Gives a typical plastered finish which can either or heavy
- Broomed or Brushed. Very good for traction, especially on hillsides
- Sponged or Swirled
- Rock Salt. Gives an aged look

Quite often, decorative sawcuts are added to give a contemporary look to mimic large pavers.
plain-and-coloured-concrete
By imprinting patterns in freshly placed concrete, you can achieve the high-end look of stone, brick, tile or timber at a
very competitive cost.
Stamped concrete, is concrete that replicates stones such as slate, flagstone, tile, brick and even wood. It is perfect for
adding elegance to pool decks, driveways, entries, courtyards, and patio. Stamped concrete is a great outdoor paving
choice.
Recently, stamped concrete has made a resurgence as a preferred choice for many homeowners because it offers a wide array of options when it comes to concrete pattern and concrete colors. Another factor contributing to its popularity is its price. The cost of stamped or imprinted concrete is often considerably lower than the materials it is a substitute for.
Stamped-Concrete-Christchurch
You see it everywhere. Polished concrete is definitely the trend right now to achieve the upmarket industrial look that is so highly sought after. The concrete can be either fully polished or a grind and seal finish can be installed.

The concrete is polished through the use of large grinding machines that cut through the concrete to expose the aggregates within the slab.

The concrete can be ground to varying depths depending on the desired look and the clients budget. For example, a salt and pepper finish is where the aggregates are just starting to be exposed (this is most popular). A full depth grind, where the aggregates are cut nearly in half is more expensive as it is more time consuming, creates more waste, and puts far more wear on the grinding equipment.

What’s the difference between a full polish and a grind and seal?

FULL POLISHED CONCRETE

This is the higher end of the two. With a full polish, the surface is ground to the depth where the desired aggregate exposure is achieved. Then the surface is passed over by the machines in stages, gradually smoothing the surface of the concrete to a point where it is so dense and smooth that it reflects like glass. Very popular in high traffic settings like supermarkets.

GRIND AND SEAL

A very similar look to the above but less expensive. The surface is ground to the desired depth, then passed over enough times that it is ready for a topical coating. Depending on the client’s needs and budget, the sealer may be a polyurethane, epoxy or an acrylic. The high gloss look can still be achieved, but without the same cost as a full polish. This is far more popular than a full polish.

TO NOTE:

With both these finishes, the final look is dependent on the concrete slab that is being polished. No two concrete slabs will be the same. Many slabs will have areas where there is far more density in the stone than others. This is out of our control and should be expected.

This look is popular in both internal and external settings.

Polished Concrete Christchurch
You see it everywhere, footpaths, roads, driveways. It is commonly chosen for council driveways and footpaths as it is at the lower end of the price range in finishes and can be excavated easier if repairs to services need to be undertaken. It is a lower maintenance option than some decorative concrete options and paving but will deteriorate a lot faster as it is a much softer surface. It is a dark colour so blends in to most settings.
Asphalt-Christchurch
Vertical Overlays are definitely the hottest trend in decorative concrete right now. Decorative stamping and texturing adds amazing beauty and depth to concrete driveways, paths and shop floors, but we can use very similar techniques to vertical surfaces, such as feature walls, fireplace surrounds, external or internal facades to your home or place of business.

Vertical overlays and faux stone are a breathtaking alternative to real stone. Because the mix is lightweight, and fixed to the wall and cast as one unit, it is a safer alternative to real stone which is heavy and time consuming. Individual stone units aren’t the safest option in a city like Christchurch which experiences regular tremors. Because our mix is lightweight and usually pinned through to the solid structure (not just on the surface) of the wall, product can be installed at up to 30mm in depth, and can be installed over just about any surface including concrete, brick, gib-board, fibro-board or existing tile. Also because of the depth it is applied, it gives the installer the ability to carve and texture to great depth. It can be shaped and coloured to look like stone, timber, deep rock textures and more. The works are then coloured and stained to simulate the appearance of the real thing.
vertical overlay christchurch

Concrete Benchtops

Concrete Benchtops

Concrete benchtops are a handmade alternative to other kitchen surfaces that offer the ability to have full customisation. With concrete you gain functionality and a hard wearing workspace that you get from high end stone but with the ability to cast large or small pieces without seams.

Concrete has become a material that is highly sort after by architects, designers & homeowners alike. It is now a main feature to many homes, retail stores, bars and restaurants. You can create a centrepiece that is beautiful and one of a kind.

Concrete Overlays

A Decorative Concrete Overlay is a very versatile, hard wearing product used in both interior and exterior applications. It is made up of high strength cements, selected sands, and top quality polymers. At FLASH, we use it in more applications than any other. We can resurface your existing damaged or new concrete to bring it back to life. The design possibilities are huge. Cracks can be repaired and then the damaged surface can be relevelled, then a designer top coat is installed to give the look of slate tile, granite, brick, stone or timber. Then borders and custom motifs can be added just to name a few possibilities. Even areas with quite large cracks can be bought back to life through our faux stone system. Architects and designers love the fact that we can take most colours in your home décor and have the overlay tinted to match. This is something that only we at FLASH have available to us. All of these finishes are suitable for interiors and exteriors.

Did you know???

More and more homeowners are also choosing to lay plain concrete for their driveways and patios when building a new home or replacing a driveway and then adding a decorative concrete overlay, as you have such a wide range of options in colour and texture consistency that is achievable with a Decorative Concrete Overlay. A range of our most popular finishes can be viewed and felt up close at our South Island Display Centre in Christchurch.
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A very classy and popular look to dress up a patio or driveway without the massive cost of real tiles. They can be non-slip or smooth like slate, and your existing expansion cuts are incorporated into the design.

This style is our current best seller for patio areas.
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Homeowners love the fact that they can restore their earthquake damaged concrete without the cost, and more so, the disruption that is caused by a full removal and replacement. As with all crack repairs, we cannot guarantee that over time (especially in cities like Christchurch where earthquakes are an every day possibility) substrate movement or tree roots, to name a couple of examples, could potentially open the cracks or create new ones. Through the use of our faux stone system we have developed, we can repair and incorporate the cracks in the concrete to ensure that if there is any future movement that the cracks will remain hidden in grout lines to stay very discreet.

Our faux stone system can be installed to look like slate, sandstone or granite, and can be made to have a smooth finish or non-slip finish, depending on the client’s needs.
Faux-Stone-Concrete-Overlay

Interior

Concrete Benchtops

Concrete benchtops are a handmade alternative to other kitchen surfaces that offer the ability to have full customisation. With concrete you gain functionality and a hard wearing workspace that you get from high end stone but with the ability to cast large or small pieces without seams.

Concrete has become a material that is highly sort after by architects, designers & homeowners alike. It is now a main feature to many homes, retail stores, bars and restaurants. You can create a centrepiece that is beautiful and one of a kind.
A Decorative Concrete Overlay is a very versatile, hard wearing product used in both interior and exterior applications. It is made up of high strength cements, selected sands, and top quality polymers. At FLASH, we use it in more applications than any other. We can resurface your existing damaged or new concrete to bring it back to life. The design possibilities are huge. Cracks can be repaired and then the damaged surface can be relevelled, then a designer top coat is installed to give the look of slate tile, granite, brick, stone or timber. Then borders and custom motifs can be added just to name a few possibilities. Even areas with quite large cracks can be bought back to life through our faux stone system. Architects and designers love the fact that we can take most colours in your home décor and have the overlay tinted to match. This is something that only we at FLASH have available to us. All of these finishes are suitable for interiors and exteriors.

Did you know???

More and more homeowners are also choosing to lay plain concrete for their driveways and patios when building a new home or replacing a driveway and then adding a decorative concrete overlay, as you have such a wide range of options in colour and texture consistency that is achievable with a Decorative Concrete Overlay. A range of our most popular finishes can be viewed and felt up close at our South Island Display Centre in Christchurch.
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One of the fastest growing trends in flooring right now. They are everywhere on the Net!

Metallic epoxies give you the ability to create a hard wearing floor that replicates the look of copper, silver, bronze or gold just to name a few. They provide a real WOW! factor to floors and are especially popular in offices, retail stores, restaurants or even nightclubs where a very modern, upmarket look is wanted by the client.

Take a look through our inspirations gallery to see some of the possibilities.
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You see it everywhere. Polished concrete is definitely the trend right now to achieve the upmarket industrial look that is so highly sought after. The concrete can be either fully polished or a grind and seal finish can be installed.

The concrete is polished through the use of large grinding machines that cut through the concrete to expose the aggregates within the slab.

The concrete can be ground to varying depths depending on the desired look and the clients budget. For example, a salt and pepper finish is where the aggregates are just starting to be exposed (this is most popular). A full depth grind, where the aggregates are cut nearly in half is more expensive as it is more time consuming, creates more waste, and puts far more wear on the grinding equipment.

What’s the difference between a full polish and a grind and seal?

FULL POLISHED CONCRETE

This is the higher end of the two. With a full polish, the surface is ground to the depth where the desired aggregate exposure is achieved. Then the surface is passed over by the machines in stages, gradually smoothing the surface of the concrete to a point where it is so dense and smooth that it reflects like glass. Very popular in high traffic settings like supermarkets.

GRIND AND SEAL

A very similar look to the above but less expensive. The surface is ground to the desired depth, then passed over enough times that it is ready for a topical coating. Depending on the client’s needs and budget, the sealer may be a polyurethane, epoxy or an acrylic. The high gloss look can still be achieved, but without the same cost as a full polish. This is far more popular than a full polish.

TO NOTE:

With both these finishes, the final look is dependent on the concrete slab that is being polished. No two concrete slabs will be the same. Many slabs will have areas where there is far more density in the stone than others. This is out of our control and should be expected.

This look is popular in both internal and external settings.

Polished Concrete Christchurch
Microtoppings are a very fine smooth cementitious coating which are extremely popular with architects and designers as they can be applied on their own, or tinted, creating the look of precast concrete, or can be used as a base to create a clean blank canvas for other finishes like acid stains and other custom looks.The finished microtopping surface is always sealed once completed to protect the surface and lock in the colour.

The microtopping itself can be tinted to just about any colour and when trowelled on very thin it leaves a mottled natural effect which gives a beautiful industrial look or a floor that blends in with just about any décor.

Designers love the fact that it can be fully custom designed to suit the client. You can have numerous colours set in patterns or because it is so thin, you can layer the colours to get amazing effects. A very versatile product, that can be applied to either floors or walls. See microcolour (link to microcolour)

Take a look through our inspirations gallery or drop by our display to get ideas...
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Vertical Overlays are definitely the hottest trend in decorative concrete right now. Decorative stamping and texturing adds amazing beauty and depth to concrete driveways, paths and shop floors, but we can use very similar techniques to vertical surfaces, such as feature walls, fireplace surrounds, external or internal facades to your home or place of business.

Vertical overlays and faux stone are a breathtaking alternative to real stone. Because the mix is lightweight, and fixed to the wall and cast as one unit, it is a safer alternative to real stone which is heavy and time consuming. Individual stone units aren’t the safest option in a city like Christchurch which experiences regular tremors. Because our mix is lightweight and usually pinned through to the solid structure (not just on the surface) of the wall, product can be installed at up to 30mm in depth, and can be installed over just about any surface including concrete, brick, gib-board, fibro-board or existing tile. Also because of the depth it is applied, it gives the installer the ability to carve and texture to great depth. It can be shaped and coloured to look like stone, timber, deep rock textures and more. The works are then coloured and stained to simulate the appearance of the real thing.
vertical overlay christchurch
Our team are trained in the use of many of the systems provided by a large range of suppliers in New Zealand and Australia. We cover a large range of industrial flooring, kitchen seamless floors and hygienic areas including:

- Epoxies, epoxy screeds & coving
- Polyurethanes & polyurethane screeds
- Polyesters
- Polyaspartics

If you have a particular system you need installed, get in touch, we can install it for you.
epoxyflooring
Acid Staining creates a richness and sense of luxury that can't be achieved by any other colouring method. Because the acid stain bleeds into the surface of the concrete and reacts with the hydrated lime in the concrete or overlay, it creates depth of colour that looks translucent and mimics stone, marble, wood or even leather.

An Acid Stain can be applied over an existing prepared concrete floor, or in most cases over a cementitious overlay. This means we can remove any existing coatings or floor coverings, and apply your new Acid Stained floor no matter what you have in place now.The surface is perfect for a living area, a shop floor or a restaurant that wants to create an environment of class and uniqueness.

Acid stains are a natural product containing metallic salts and acid. They do come in a limited number of colours (around six). They include dark browns, rusty browns and blueish-green hues. Do bear in mind that these colours can be combined to create some amazing effects that will have you continually staring at your floor.Also, because the stain reacts differently depending on the surface it is applied to, the levels in the floor, or the drying time, no two jobs will ever look identical. This is all part of the charm of a beautiful Acid Stained Floor.
acidfloor
These cementitious toppings quickly restore worn concrete and level out uneven floors.

Self-levelling overlay systems for concrete floors offer numerous advantages. They can correct uneven floors, repair damaged concrete, and provide a smooth and durable new surface for decorative treatments. These flowable polymer-modified toppings have the ability to self-level without trowelling, making them a quick solution for smoothing and levelling worn or uneven concrete.

In many cases, self-levelling toppings serve a purely utilitarian purpose, such as correcting uneven or damaged floors, or serving as an underlayment for tile, carpet, or other floor coverings. But you can also use self-levelling overlays for decorative purposes by adding integral colour to the self-levelling system, or by enhancing the overlay using stains and dyes. The overlay can be left seamless (except at control joints) or used as a canvas forsawcut or engraved designs. You can incorporate decorative inlays such as strips of wood or metal, by adhering them to the base concrete and then pouring the overlay to the level of the inlay.

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Flake flooring, or Terraflake as it is better known in New Zealand, is a very popular floor finish for both residential and commercial settings where a durable, seamless and attractive finish is desired.
With a flake floor, a resin is laid on the floor and paint flake chips are set into the surface, which is then coated with a high strength sealer. The finish is also popular due to the wide range of colours which are fully customisable and because it is suitable for use in wet areas such as toilets and kitchens.
flake-flooring

Vertical and Specialty

Vertical Overlays are definitely the hottest trend in decorative concrete right now. Decorative stamping and texturing adds amazing beauty and depth to concrete driveways, paths and shop floors, but we can use very similar techniques to vertical surfaces, such as feature walls, fireplace surrounds, external or internal facades to your home or place of business.

Vertical overlays and faux stone are a breathtaking alternative to real stone. Because the mix is lightweight, and fixed to the wall and cast as one unit, it is a safer alternative to real stone which is heavy and time consuming. Individual stone units aren’t the safest option in a city like Christchurch which experiences regular tremors. Because our mix is lightweight and usually pinned through to the solid structure (not just on the surface) of the wall, product can be installed at up to 30mm in depth, and can be installed over just about any surface including concrete, brick, gib-board, fibro-board or existing tile. Also because of the depth it is applied, it gives the installer the ability to carve and texture to great depth. It can be shaped and coloured to look like stone, timber, deep rock textures and more. The works are then coloured and stained to simulate the appearance of the real thing.
vertical overlay christchurch