Concrete Decor, Jan. 2010

excerpt from Let It Shine, Installing Fiber Optic Light Effects
by Amy Johnson

Mood lighting. Special effects. Animated logos. All of these and more can be integrated with decorative concrete, thanks to fiber optics.

Everyone has seen novelty fiber optic decorations — bunches of clear fibers emitting points of colored lights from their ends. Designers use these same fibers to carry light to the surfaces of unique, high-end concrete counters, bars, pools, and floors....

Scott Cohen, author of Scott Cohen's Outdoor Kitchen Design Workbook and garden artisan for The Green Scene, creates a very different look in his outdoor kitchens with cast in place counters. He doesn't run the fiber all the way to the concrete surface for a single bright point. Instead, he diffuses the points of light by attaching fibers to chunks of colored glass with a hot glue gun. He uses one or two fibers for smaller or light-colored glass and two or three fibers for darker colored glass.

With the fibers attached, Cohen sets the glass in dollops of high-performance concrete at the anticipated top of the piece. After pouring concrete around the dollops, he vibrates it to consolidate it. To avoid damaging the fibers, he runs the vibrator around and underneath the form. When the concrete is cured he grinds and polishes it,finishing with a penetrating sealer or protective coating as the application requires.

Concrete with fiber optics is not for everyone. Not every contractor can tolerate the repetitive task of inserting hundreds of tiny fibers or keeping track of where each one goes. Not many businesses or homeowners can afford the added cost. (Cohen adds #3,200 to a countertop job to cover the illuminator plus 300 fibers and large pieces of glass, and that is on top of an additional upgrade from plain cast concrete to polished, hand-seeded glass.) But for those who want a truly unique look or are looking for a stunning effect, fiber optics are a cool, versatile option.