What Is Concrete Overlayment?

Concrete overlayment is a less expensive alternative way of designing and adding color to plain concrete floors, rather than replacing them with actual flooring. Concrete overlayment can correct exsiting problems with the concrete, while giving it a new look. Aside from being less expensive, concrete overlayment is less time consuming. 

Concrete overlay is a nontoxic hybrid polymer resin-based cement. It can be applied to most surfaces and is resilient against water degradation and chemicals. Concrete overlayment is applied to bare concrete floors that homeowners want to design or liven up with a bit of color. There are many decorating choices to choose from, such as: stains, stencils and pigmented overlay. Overlays can also be used to refinish or level out uneven floors so they can solve a few problems at once. Replacing floors with an overlay is less expensive than purchasing and installing traditional floors.

There are several types of overlays:

• Stampable overlay is used to stamp a design into the material that gives the floor the look of wood, slate and other various materials. 


• Spray overlays use an air-powered hopper gun. Concrete stencils are a widely used technique used with the spray overly. They can add multicolored and layered designs to the floor.


• Microtopping overlay uses a thin coat to add splashes of color and designs.


• Self-leveling overlay is ideal for uneven concrete, because the overlay can level itself without the use of a troweling. They are sometimes used as underlayment for flooring such as carpet and tile.