Colors & Textures | Overview

The Coloring of CMU

Raw is the Color... Cmu colors begin, as other types of concrete products, in a natural gray color.  What color is cmu's gray?  Actually, it's as varied as mother nature.  Materials used as the
main components in cmu can vary greatly in color from one source
to another, so much so that natural grays can range from very cool grays to very warm, almost tan, grays.   That's why it's possible to have very different grays from different manufacturing locations.  Cmu are essentially simple - sand, aggregates, and cement.  Yet making block is really as much of an art as it is a science.  We take tremendous pride in our state-of-the-art technology, but it's the expertise of our production team that creates the level of quality we demand.  To do so, they must master what nature offers.

On the Range... As in everything else, if it's in color there's a list of variables and factors that affect color outcome.  Included in the list for cmu are variations of raw material color (naturally), variations of mineral oxides (pigments), weather conditions at time of manufacture and during cure, and time - that is, in the time between "last time" and "this time" how much have the raw materials changed over that period.   (You've noticed we have these little disclaimers on everything related to color and texture; well, this is why.)  Note also that differences in weight classification (mediumweight vs lightweight, for example) require different mix designs which create different base gray colors which - you guessed it - create different versions of the same color designation.

Selecting the Color of CMU

Color has its Faces... Texture has the last say in what you see.  But this is good; the same color will contrast nicely with itself for very powerful design effects.  Using precision and split face textures in combination, for example, offers outstanding design flexibility with units of the same color.  Other textural treatments such as scores (manufactured), burnishing (in-plant), and sandblasting (completed wall on-site) each exhibit a different face of the same color.  An understanding of this is extremely useful in making wise choices of color, especially in the consideration of stock versus special order colors.

Take Stock of Your Project... Deftly handling texture in a design results in it-looks-outstanding kudos and a thank-goodness-for-that reality of construction schedules when you specify stock materials.  These normally available colors and textures provide the best solution for both masters: aesthetics and economics.  And preventing the two from reaching critical mass for smaller projects, or those that are fast-tracked of any size, can be accomplished with stock units.

This is Special... Now for the palette hungry who can secure the luxury of manufacturing lead time (which is a nice way of saying contracts had better be let in plenty of time for the mason to generate a material list for making the correct amount of the right units in time for the scheduled start of masonry), have we got your color!  Cool charcoals to warm reds, with tans, beiges, and browns in between, we can offer an extensive range of colors and compatible mortars for those larger projects that warrant special manufacturing runs.

Call Us on it... Your Desert Block Representative can assist you with specific information on availability and feasibility;  such up-front input is invaluable in achieving a smooth, no-surprises outcome and we heartily recommend you take us up on it.  We can assist specifiers in making color selections within the context of the material.  That is, specifying natural and integral colored cmu in a manner appropriate for the project scope and manufacturing parameters.  After all, our ultimate goal is for you and us to still look good after the reality check of the job in progress!

Select the Mortar, Too

Watch that Last Step... You've invested yourself in the design, done your homework in correctly specifying colored cmu, entrusted its production to the best in the business (that's us, of course), and left the other part of the wall - the mortar between the cmu - to be blended by the lowest paid guy on the jobsite...wait, something's amiss!

Be Controlling, Please... Now you can close this hole in the masonry specification and execution.   Choose the preeminent Spec Mix® preblended mortars available from
Desert Block, and you’ll take control of the complete cmu wall. 
See the Mortar Colors page.

Choose your colors, click here.

For non-architectural inquiries, click here.