Surfacing Solutions Inc. Provides Custom Concrete to Southern California

California's Surfacing Solutions, located in Temecula, offers a bevy of decorative concrete work, including colored concrete, concrete countertops, decorative interior flooring, patios, pool decks, concrete resurfacing, staining, stamping, floor preparation, shot blasting, floor stripping, concrete polishing and garage floor coatings.

Shawn Halverson, founder of Surfacing Solutions Inc., has been involved in concrete for over 30 years—from foundations, patios and driveways, to structural high rises, bridges and subterranean work. Currently, the company is focusing on decorative overlays, stamping, staining, polishing, countertops, sinks and furniture pieces.

Halverson started out in the industry in 1974 as a laborer and eventually grew to become part-owner of a large structural concrete business. Then, when the late 80s changed the economy, he got out and started his own structural concrete business, which he owned and operated for nine years before leaving the industry altogether in 1995.

"After a couple of years, I missed it. But I knew I physically couldn't do the kind of work I had been doing before, so I started in decorative concrete in 2000, doing garage floors, and now I do a little bit of everything," he recalls.

Adding that he's been doing countertops since back with his own structural concrete company, Halverson says with his product expansion he's also added an in-house crew dedicated to countertops.

"We're now focusing on outdoor furniture to tie in with outdoor living in Southern California," he notes. The new line of outdoor tables, made of concrete and metal, will launch sometime in 2007, and in the meantime, Surfacing Solutions Inc. will also be involved in a nationwide rollout of their sinks.

As for the change in directions toward products rather than applications, Halverson notes, "I'm burned out on floors, and this plan takes us in a new direction."

Halverson says he most enjoys the art aspect of decorative work, and his company has poured and molded thousands of different designs over the years.

"After 30 years, I can still be awed by this simple substance that starts as a barrel of rock powder and water and can be coaxed into breathtaking looks that produces 'aahhs' and 'ooohs' by its many admirers. This is what drives us—seeing what new piece sparks looks of appreciation in our customer's eyes," explains Halverson.

With the addition of concrete artist Mike Peterson, who has over 10 years of experience in concrete research and development, Surfacing Solutions Inc. has continued to grow both its product and client base. Halverson's most recent hire, an artist of different proportion, Carol Bedolla, specializes in everything from realistic-style oil paintings to "the most incredible looking faux finishes possible."

"We've brought her on board to give our clients the option of something totally custom," Halverson explains. "She can create a personalized mural right on someone's kitchen countertop or backsplash, and of course, design any type of faux finish wall art imaginable.

Surfacing Solutions Inc. works mostly in a 30- to 35-mile radius, which can also include Los Angeles, San Diego and Palm Springs, as well as far-flung locales such as Lincoln (north of Sacramento, Calif.). Their portfolio is comprised of 40 percent residential work and 60 percent commercial work, with a growing demand for interior work.

For a recent exterior commercial project, Surfacing Solutions Inc. worked with their client, Old Town Coffee House in Temecula, to overlay approximately 2,200 square feet of concrete. First they used Concrete Solutions overlay system and a flagstone stamp, then acid stained the area. Next, they color washed the concrete, then applied two coats of a stamp concrete sealer.

"The ironic thing is that I originally poured the concrete under this overlay back in 1976 when it was a butcher market," laughs Halverson. "Of course, it was pretty cracked up and damaged after 30 years. So we repaired all the cracks and overlayed it to create this look."

For another commercial client, Lighthouse Fabrics of Murrieta (a furniture store), Surfacing Solutions Inc. worked with 3,500 square feet of interior existing floor to create the "simple and elegant look" the client desired.

First, they ground the existing floor, then used a wood plank stamp overlay for the client design center. The majority of the floor was colored using Brickform dyes in caramel and green. For the 200-square-foot entryway, they hand-troweled Marble cements in multiple colors of tan, then applied a European Modello stencil and stenciled the pattern with color dyes. They also hand-micro-troweled a wall 20 feet tall and 10 feet wide a red velvet color. The whole project was sealed with Versatile Products Polyurea 5000, which gave it a beautiful hi-gloss finish.

In a unique take on residential decorative concrete, Surfacing Solutions Inc. recently created a 180-square-foot custom concrete countertop for a home in Temecula. They built the form in place, then used a rubber-edge mold from Encounter and Encounter concrete mix to get the shape. After the concrete was set, they ground the countertop to expose the rock in the mix, then acid stained the piece with Scoffield's Walnut color (cut 30 to 1) before applying Lifedeck CRU sealer to complete the job.

Other unusual residential projects include a 6 ½-foot-long, two-inch-thick bathroom countertop with an exposed jagged edge (as well as the sink edge), with a hand-troweled marble mix over the top to create a 3-D effect. For another project, a round bar area 21 feet around totaling 160 square feet of countertops, they poured the monolithic piece in place, with no joints or cracks.

And in another take on bathroom countertops, Surfacing Solutions Inc. used five colors of acid stain, reground, re-stained and sealed a top, then used river rock for the backsplash, which highlighted the natural river stone look to the top.

"Sometimes you go into a job with certain expectations, but challenges arise and you have to be able to adapt and change directions," explains Eerdmans. "But we still work it until the customer (and ourselves) is satisfied. I constantly remind customers that this is art."

Considering the fact that Surfacing Solutions Inc. is six years old, Halverson concludes, "We've come a long way, from epoxy garage floors to high-end polishing of floors. We've done everything being done in this industry, and we plan to keep evolving and changing to stay ahead, all while providing high-end work to our community. It is a great feeling when a friend or acquaintance mentions they want their job to look like that business down the street that they saw in our town, and I can proudly say, 'We did that, isn't that cool?!'"

Surfacing Solutions
Shawn Halverson
(951) 699-0035 Office

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