Al Carrell: I know what you're thinking. You're thnking this is a slate driveway and very expensive. It's not. It's decorative concrete called faux brick -- less expensive than you think, and very easy to do.

Looks pretty easy, Merrick. Is it?

Merrick Pierce (contractor): Sure is, Al. All you have to do is roll this paper out the length of the slab.

AC: Just have to match up the lines.

MP: Exactly.

AC: Now, this seems like it's some sort of a plastic or paper product. What is it, Merrick?

MP: This is actually a liner board with a poly coating on it to give it strength.

AC: Now, the next step is to embed this template into the concrete.

MP: We can use a roller -- just similar to a typical paintroller -- just rolled over the template -- and that embeds it into the concrete.

AC: Well, the next step, I guess, is to start putting the color in, right?

MP: Exactly, Al, that's just broadcast across the concrete.

AC: Hey, what is this stuff?

MP: This is portland cement, pigment, and sand in the mix. And on the typical job, you mix more than one color to give a more authentic brick appearnace, rather than a single color.

Here, we're trowelling the color into the concrete and putting on the final finish.

AC: It looks like this stuff is ready to be pulled up. If we can get this template off of here, we'll see what it's going to look like. Oh, man, that's going to be great! Okay, what's our next step?

MP: The next step would be jsut to blow it off with an ordinary leaf blower, and then apply a coat of cure n' seal.

AC: Well, Merrick, this turned out to be a beautiful job. It looks just like real slate.

MP: Sure does, Al, and it only took about a day to do this job.

AC: And one of the things people are really going to be impressed with is the cost factor.

MP: Exactly, this is a slate pattern. Natural slate would cost three or four tiems what this would run, and it's only a little bit more than plain concrete.

AC: And looks fantastic.

MP: Thank you, Al.

I'm Super Handyman Al Carrell, About The House.