Concrete at Home: Innovative Forms and Finishes

by Eric Olsen, Fu-Tung Cheng

Fu-Tung Cheng's surprise bestseller Concrete Countertops paved the way for a fresh look at a familiar surface. His new book moves beyond the kitchen and transforms this commonplace material into an elegant medium that can be used throughout the house. Combining cutting-edge design with helpful how-to information, Concrete at Home offers ingenious ideas for planning and building walls, fireplaces, mantels, hearths, and exterior and interior floors, as well as tips on incorporating architectural elements such as counters, sinks, columns, and water pieces into the project. The construction of forms, footings, and ties is detailed in clear, easy-to-follow instructions, and special attention is given to finishing techniques, including adding color, texture, and inlays.

Genres: Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 3, 2005

About the author

I was born and raised in Oakland—go A’s! California. I'm a journalist, editor, and occasional novelist. My sixth non-fiction book, We Wanted to be Writers: Life, Love, and Literature at the Iowa Writers' Workshop, was released August 1, 2011. It's a series of conversations about writing, the creative process, the lit biz, and more with nearly 30 classmates and teachers at the Iowa Writers' Workshop in the mid-70s. Among them are TC Boyle, Jane Smiley, John Irving, Sandra Cisneros, Allan Gurganus, Michelle Huneven, Joe Haldeman, and Jayne Anne Phillips. My co-editor is Glenn Schaeffer.

As a journalist I write mostly about culture, also health, fitness, sports, and medicine. But I'll write about anything if it's interesting, and I have. For several years I was an executive editor at Time Inc. Health in San Francisco, a TimeWarner company. Later, I was an affiliate associate professor of English at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, where I ran the American branch of the International Institute of Modern Letters, which advocated on behalf of censored and persecuted writers.

I received an MFA in fiction writing from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where I was a Teaching/Writing Fellow. After Iowa, I was awarded a James A. Michener Fellowship for fiction.

I always have a mystery novel or two in the works.

Reviews

[mad mags · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine the possibilities….

In CONCRETE AT HOME, concrete designer Fu-Tung Chen does just this, sharing with his readers the many creative uses he's found for concrete over the years. Floors, walls, countertops, sinks, fireplaces - Chen covers them all, with a decided flair for the fanciful.

I approached CONCRETE AT HOME as a first-time homeowner who was toying with the idea of ripping out all of my home's flooring and staining the concrete slab underneath. And, I should specify, hiring a pro to do so, since I'm not the DIY type (at least not when it comes to the single largest investment of my life). It was with this newbie curiosity that I devoured CONCRETE AT HOME.

Though I found CONCRETE AT HOME to be somewhat helpful and very enjoyable, it didn't totally quench my thirst for all that is concrete. Chen can't quite seem to decide on an intended audience in CONCRETE AT HOME; while he aims to explain the basics of concrete to average Janes like myself, he also includes advanced instructions for professionals. As a result, the book has a kind of schizophrenic quality. Although Chen does take the time to explain some of the fundamentals, it's not as complete or in-depth enough to qualify CONCRETE AT HOME as a Concrete 101 text. On the flip side, I imagine that concrete professionals will be equally dissatisfied with the brief instructions Chen includes for complicated concrete projects - such as working with forms and building walls (!). In trying to please everyone, I suspect Chen's resulting treatise will fall short of everyone's expectations.

Even so, CONCRETE AT HOME is a must-read for those interested in concrete and its applications. It may be a bit spotty in coverage, but it's by far one of the most interesting, engaging, and inspiring concrete books I've yet to come across.

Now I can't wait to get started on those floors!

http://www.easyvegan.info/2007/05/02/...

[Rogue Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

It made me laugh to pick up Fu-Tung Cheng's Concrete At Home on the tail end of a small homes reading jag. I think I was drawn by thoughts of my mother's beautiful Florida terrazo floors, or visions of Frank Lloyd Wright's concrete block home experiments.

Fu-Teng's homes are not small on any scale! They are enormous concrete castles of light and color and texture, with entire rooms, walls and floors designed in concrete, or just accents like a counter or object. Either way, the precise focus and exacting work of these artists led by designer Fu-Tung is remarkable. Further, it's a marvel how they execute on the upper levels of a building, or against a hillside.

This book is almost a how-to-do-it for those who want to build in concrete, and there are spectactular photographs and detailed instructions of both straightforward and complex works. There's a Portland Concrete Company, and I think I'll visit the next time I'm in town.

Thank you Ashland Public Library for this serendipitous, browsing find!

--Ashland Mystery

[Ethan S · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fu-Tung Cheng's followup up to Concrete Countertops focus on other uses for concrete as a form and function materials throughout your house, from floors to walls, to fireplaces, accent pieces and art pieces. His first book on countertops was very much and instructional book with design and inspiration mixed in, this book is kind of the opposite. He does give instructions throughout but I think the book will be more useful for inspiration and showing the different ways you can use concrete in your home.
After reading the first one and installing my own custom concrete countertops I feel safe in saying it is a relatively simple (though not necessarily easy) process that most homeowners could learn themselves to add personalized touches to their home. The type of projects shown here are much more complicated and should only be attempted by people of some level of experience with concrete or construction. Still the projects are beautiful and Cheng is truly innovative in the way he uses concrete for the various water projects shown near the end of the book.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent look at the abundant possibilities of concrete use in the home.

Author is very experienced, despite his demeanor. Photographs are very clear, numerous, and very inspiring.

It's an honest book, it shows the amount of work that goes into a project, but it nevertheless simplifies it to a degree.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous, gorgeous book. An interesting comparison between this and the concrete countertops book: the countertops book is a lot more instructive and useful, while this book was mostly "house porn"... but we got a lot more ideas out of this book that we'll probably use.

[Adhika Annissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

It talks about concrete: the techniques, applications.. shows pictures of the process, the examples.. the content is understandable (enough) for amateurs.