Stamp like
the pros.
Hana Hou!

Site prep

Determine layout of entire paver area. Remove 8" of soil inside all square feet of the new paver area. Keep in mind the finished elevation of concrete against all grades, including walkways and the garage.

Form layout

Spray out the paver forms with marking paint. In the paver layout, mix in large and small pavers to avoid repetition in form and size. Change up the shapes, and how they intersect into each other.

• Run 1x4's along the outer perimeter of the entire driveway location, to establish grade before you start placing your forms for pavers. This will give a constant guide to run string lines, ensuring your pavers are flowing from surface to surface. You can now pull string lines between the forms.

Set forms

Install the individual forms, ensuring stability with plenty of form pins. Recycled 1x4" plastic edging or 1/8" thick Masonite for extreme curves are common materials to form pavers.

• Short pieces of 2x4's placed between the pavers provide support, while providing consistency of spacing. These are the "kickers", so when the concrete is placed inside, the forms cannot give.

Pour & screed

For strength, aggregate is important in the mix. A reinforcing stealth fiber in the mix is also wise for strength. Initiate the first pour. Screed off the concrete, and float to "knock down" the aggregate.

• Always have Integral Concrete Color in the concrete mix, which will be the base color. For lava, we advise "Charcoal", to give a darker grey substrate.
• If wheelbarrowing the concrete, you may have to leave a few pavers unformed for the first pour, to allow this access.

Stamp prep

Pour as many pavers in the first pour as you are comfortable with, depending on experience and man-power. After screeding, floating, and troweling the edge, hit the surface with a Mini Pool Trowel to prepare for stamping.

Trowel edges

Instead of edging, trowel down the edges at a 45 degree angle, 1″ below the form. This will give a more organic edge to your pavers as a natural stone would look, and allow to stamp this area.

Apply release

Dust a Powder Release Agent onto the surface of the "pancakes", to allow the stamps to leave an impression, without sticking to the concrete. Choose a Powder Release Agent, which will complement the Integral Concrete Color, such as a brown with a gray, a black with a brown. In this case, we used Powder Release Agent in Adobe Brown.

• Do the thumb test to determine if the stones are ready to stamp. Press your thumb onto the "pancakes" if they are firm enough to keep your thumb from breaking the surface, but soft enough to take your thumb's impression, they are ready to stamp.
• Make sure the releasing agent is shaken up and powdery before grabbing a small handful. Then apply it like you are skipping a rock across the water.

Stamp the texture

Firmly press a RockMolds floppy stamp onto the surface and sides of concrete, transferring the natural rock impression into the concrete. For stones larger than your stamp, overlap as necessary, while feathering onto the previous impression. Using multiple stamps in different patterns is preferable to avoid repetition of texture on the stones. LS301F, LS302F, LS303F, LS304F, and LS305F are stamps we commonly use for driveway pavers.

• Remember to mix and match your RockMolds stamps to avoid repetition.

Stain

Color the pavers with Water-Based Concrete Stain. Start with lighter colors and layer in the darker colors until a certain look is obtained. For this project, we used "Black" and "Espresso".

• Predetermine the final color scheme on a test piece of cured concrete.

Mix concrete

Mix the concrete. A rich mix (more cement) and small gravel (1/4" minus aggregate) is a good consistency for stamping. More cement with small gravel will provide a stampable consistency with greater strength.

• Adding Integral Concrete Color into the mix is a good idea for the base color. In general, 4 scoops of cement to 16 scoops of sand with 1 cup of integral color is a great mix for stepping-stones.

Place "pancakes"

Start to deposit the concrete into the spray painted outlines of the stepping-stones. For beginners, prep 4 to 5 stones at a time, so you can focus on making a few stones well. After depositing the concrete with a shovel, smooth the piles into 3-4″ thick "pancakes" with a Mini Pool Trowel. These should now look like smooth stepping-stones ready for texturing, within the painted outlines of the pathway.

Dust release

Dust a Powder Release Agent onto the surface of the "pancakes", to allow the stamps to leave an impression, without sticking to the concrete. Choose a colored releasing agent, which will complement the integral base color, such as a brown with a gray, a black with a brown, etc.

• Make sure the releasing agent is shaken up and powdery before grabbing a small handful. Then apply it like you are skipping a rock across the water.

Stamp

Firmly press a RockMolds stamp onto the surface and sides of concrete, transferring the natural rock impression into the concrete. For stones larger than your stamp, overlap as necessary, while feathering onto the previous impression. Using multiple stamps in different patterns is preferable to avoid repetition of texture on the stones.

• LS201F, LS202F, LS203F, LS204F, and LS205F are the best selling stamps we use on our own projects.

Stain

Color the stones using Water-Based Concrete Stain on the dried stones for additional coloring and highlights. With the integral color, release agent color, and now the highlights of the Water-Based Concrete Stain, your stones will have a multitude of colors, as natural stone would.

• Start with a light color of the Water-Based Concrete Stain, and then go darker. Think of this process of painting with watercolors, only on concrete.

Seal

Use Natural Stone Sealer, our water-based penetrating sealant to preserve the color of your stones. It will enhance the color, without a sheen.

Substrate

The existing substrate is a set of concrete block retaining walls. Vertical stamping is a perfect application to veneer these walls with a natural stone look.

Primer & bonder

Roll Flexy-Bo Primer & Bonder onto the concrete wall. Allow to tack up for 30 minutes.

Scratch coat

Apply a thin 1/8" thick scratch coat of S-Type mortar with a Mini Pool Trowel, then scarify the surface.

Texture coat

After the scratch coat has dried, saturate the surface thoroughly with a garden hose, then apply a 1/2"-2" thick texture coat of Vertical Stamp Mix with a Mini Pool Trowel. Undulate the depth so it has varying thickness.

Visualize stones

Immediately visualize the stones, and scratch in rough outlines. These will be your stamping guidelines.

• The thicker the stones, the deeper the joints, and the deeper the shadows. This gives the stones depth and realism.

Liquid release & stamp

Apply a Liquid Release Concentrate to the troweled out texture coat and to the RockMolds stamps. This allows an impression without sticking. Stamp a distinctive texture between the stamping guidelines.

• It is important to immediately stamp after a batch of Vertical Stamp Mix has been applied, as the detailed texture will be captured with a softer surface.

Continue batches

Continue the application, batch by batch, and stamping out immediately behind. Use a variety of RockMolds stamps to avoid repetition of textures. We use LS01, LS02, LS03, LS04, LS06 for the majority of our vertical stamping.

• Rotate your stamps when stamping so the textures spin 360 degrees from stone to stone.

Carve joints

After the vertical stamp mix has sufficiently firmed up, usually within 4-6 hours, the joints can be accented by carving out. A Tuck Point Trowel works great.

• Keep the joints tight between the stones, to create a shadow and depth.
• A chip brush dipped in water may be used at this time as well to clean up the stones.

Cure

Let your wall cure 24 hours minimum. Hose off any loose debris.

Stain

Color the stones with Water-Based Concrete Stain. Start with lighter colors, and layer in the darker colors until a certain look is obtained. You can always go darker!

• Use multiple quart size spray bottles to apply different colors of stain, mixing the colors wet on wet so they blend together. Use a concrete sponge to blot the surface for any runs.

Substrate

The existing substrate is a set of concrete block columns. Vertical stamping is a perfect application to veneer these columns with a natural wood look.

Texture coat

After the scratch coat has been allowed to dry, a 1/2" thick texture coat of a Vertical Stamp mix is troweled up with a Mini Pool Trowel.

Liquid release & stamp

Apply a liquid release to the troweled-out texture coat and to the wood stamps. This allows an impression without sticking. We use the Traditional Stone Stamps – Seamless Floppy (Weathered Wood variation) for the majority of our wood vertical stamping.

• It is important to immediately stamp after a batch of Vertical Stamp Mix has been applied, as the detailed texture will be captured with a softer surface.

Continue stamping

Continue the application of a batch of Vertical Stamp Mix, and stamping out immediately behind.

• Rotate your stamps when stamping so the grains are mixed.

Carve the wood

After the vertical stamp mix has sufficiently firmed up, usually within 4-6 hours, the wood can be accented by carving out. A Tuck Point Trowel works great.

• A chip brush dipped in water may be used at this time as well to clean up the wood.

Stain

Color the wood with Water-Based Concrete Stain. Start with lighter colors, and layer in the darker colors until a certain look is obtained. You can always go darker!

• Use multiple quart size spray bottles to apply different colors of stain, mixing the colors wet on wet so they blend together. Use a concrete sponge to blot the surface for any runs.