CHENG Concrete Makes the Great Outdoors Even Better with New Mix
Berkeley, CA (MAY 2012) – CHENG Concrete, LLC, announces the debut of CHENG Outdoor Concrete Pro-Formula, the newest addition to the time-tested CHENG Pro-Formula line celebrating its 10th year as the concrete mix formulation trusted by concrete professionals. Continuing the tradition of high performance standards, the new CHENG Outdoor Concrete Pro-Formula is formulated for both precast and pour-in-place applications in several popular colors. It allows professionals and do-it-yourselfers to make designer-quality outdoor concrete projects including planters, benches, fire tables and fire pits, barbecue surrounds, furniture, tabletops and garden sculpture.
Fu-Tung Cheng, founder of CHENG Concrete and author of best-selling Concrete Countertops, developed CHENG Outdoor Pro-Formula for his own award-winning design projects, blending crack-prevention agents, the finest grade fade-resistant pigments, and freeze-thaw additives that provide built-in climate flexibility. Cheng explains, “With CHENG Outdoor Pro-Formula plus local bagged concrete and water, anyone can create a superior, more durable concrete with a designer-finish—perfect for any outdoor project.”
Great For Both Pros + DIYers
CHENG Outdoor Pro-Formula will appeal to concrete and building professionals as well as the occasional do-it-yourselfer. According to Mike Heidebrink, President of CHENG Concrete, “Pros will like how CHENG Outdoor eliminates having to buy materials from different sources, inventorying them, and needing the real estate to store materials only available by the pallet.”“It’ll also save a crew from needing to measure and consistently blend multiple materials. Time and resources are better spent focused on concrete forming and detailed finishing,” explained Heidebrink.
While appealing to the professional, Heidebrink describes how well CHENG Outdoor Pro-Formula works for do-it-yourselfers: the mix is designed and pre-measured, offering more time for what’s important—creativity. Simply adding locally-sourced bagged concrete mix and water to a 1 cu.ft. Outdoor Pro-Formula package will yield a ready-to-go, workable mix that delivers professional results.
CHENG Outdoor Pro-Formula is available in six customer favorite colors─Charcoal, Sand, Saddle, Stone, Amber and Platinum─as well as Base which, when blended with CHENG Base Pigments, creates an unlimited custom coloring system. CHENG Outdoor Pro-Formula provides the user consistent, fade-resistant color, strength performance, and desired surface finish results with each outdoor project.
Pro-Formula Performance
Though concrete is one of the most versatile, durable building materials available, CHENG Concrete and Interstar, manufacturer of the CHENG line, formulated Outdoor Pro-Formula to withstand all types of extreme weather conditions. The new mix increases concrete’s resistance to cracking and breaking away from the surface, or “spalling,” which can often occur in exterior installations.With built-in climate flexibility, Outdoor Pro-Formula projects will expand and contract with temperature fluctuations, dramatically increasing the life and maintaining the beauty of outdoor concrete. Whether in a northern climate, where deep freezes are common, or under the hot desert sun with scorching temperatures, Outdoor Pro-Formula holds up to the wear and tear of these extreme conditions.
CHENG Outdoor Pro-Formula performance features include:
Easy to Use—Just Add Bagged Concrete Mix + Water
Finest Grade, Fade-Resistant Colors
Stronger, Smoother Concrete Surfaces
Built-in Climate Flexibility for Freeze / Thaw Conditions
Minimizes Cracking and Breaking (Spalling)
Unlimited Precast and Pour-in-Place Design Applications
Reliable Results Across Projects
Available in 1 cu.ft
Available in 1 cu.ft. units, Outdoor Pro-Formula keeps the product affordable and resource-friendly by reducing the high cost of shipping bagged concrete across long distances. Heidebrink advises that a 5,000 psi bagged concrete, available at your local hardware store, must be used with Outdoor Pro-Formula to maximize its strength performance and specifically recommends Sakrete 5000-Plus. Outdoor Pro-Formula can be used for walls and flatwork like sidewalks, patios, and pavers.
Lisa Stern, Director at Interstar, commented on the development of Pro-Formula: “Over the past seven years, the Interstar-CHENG Concrete relationship has grown on every level because it is based on mutual respect and admiration. The teams work seamlessly with one goal: to offer the highest quality products with the most responsive, flexible customer support. Our customers are not simply purchasing a product, they are buying the know-how and support that went into making it.”
Making The Great Outdoors Even Better
In time for the summer season, Outdoor Pro-Formula offers the key ingredients for endless design options to create or enhance any outdoor living space. Fu-Tung Cheng describes the current trends in outdoor living as a “boomerang effect” where users have historically sought to bring the outdoors—the idea of nature—into the home via solutions like floor-to-ceiling windows, skylights, large plants, water features and fireplaces. “And now,” Cheng says, “everyone wants to take the amenities and comforts of the indoors outside. Things like the scale and the design of indoor furniture and the hearth is being brought outdoors.”
Cheng describes, in particular, that the indoor kitchen once served a specific utilitarian function: to prepare and cook food. Modern kitchens are now the community core of the home and go beyond a place of simply preparing food. They are designed to be inviting, a place that encourages conversation and where the main entertainment of the home occurs.
“People are seeking the same level of experience from the indoors in the ‘new outdoor kitchen’ and it’s no longer limited to just grilling out—food prep is part of the entertainment. The way the grill works, the options and amenities at hand, the comfort of pulling up to an island to have conversation, sitting in lounge chairs and couches and coming together around a fire pit, all play a part in our human desire to create community and a place to gather.”
“Being outdoors is very instinctual and primal, we want the option of doing our everyday living both indoors and out,” Cheng further explains. With Outdoor Pro-Formula, DIYers have a new, creative tool for outdoor living that is fun, creative, colorful and durable. For professionals, it affords convenience, brand quality, and efficiency. CHENG Outdoor Pro-Formula is available online at chengconcrete.com, where outdoor project examples, a color palette and more detailed information are offered.
Cheng sums up, “The secret ingredient is really the creative users—they are what make each project special.”