Coloured Concrete Adelaide

Integral colour is added directly to the concrete mix before it's poured, so the pigment runs through the entire thickness of the slab — if the surface ever chips or wears, the colour underneath matches. It's a simpler, more predictable process but generally produces slightly softer, more muted tones since the pigment is diluted through the full mix.

Colour hardener is a dry pigment broadcast onto the surface of the wet concrete and worked in during finishing. Because all the pigment sits in a thin surface layer rather than being diluted through the whole slab, hardener colours are typically richer and more vibrant, and the hardener itself adds extra surface density and abrasion resistance. The trade-off is that if the surface is ever deeply chipped, the paler base concrete can show through.

Not every pigment holds its colour equally well under sustained UV exposure, and Adelaide's summer sun is genuinely harsh on outdoor surfaces over years of exposure. We steer customers toward UV-stable pigment ranges and always recommend a UV-stable sealer on coloured work, particularly for driveways and other areas that sit in direct sun most of the day — the colour is the whole point of the upgrade, so it needs to actually last.