What is Ultra-M1x?

The new integral coloring product that adds the benefits of UltraFiber 500® in a convenient form.

Brickform has an exciting new product for the decorative concrete contractor. It’s an integral color with easier dosing and added fiber. This product is called Ultra-M1x and will be available from a Brickform dealer near you in September 2022. Make sure to ask your Brickform representative or Brickform dealer for more information.

Brickform Ultra-M1x — *Ultra-M1x allows you to color and reinforce concrete with one product.*

Simplified Color Dosing

Ultra-M1x is a “one bag per yard” integral color system. This form of integral color is getting more popular over time because it’s simple and easy to use. This system reduces the amount of math needed to add color to concrete. Just add one bag for each yard of concrete in the truck. It couldn’t be any easier.

Ultra-M1x has 20 premium color options great for any job. A wide range of gray, tan, buff, and brown shades work for most projects. There are even red, orange, and green tones for special jobs. Ultra-M1x is suitable for stamped concrete, colored flatwork, and exposed aggregate finishes. Ultra-M1x colors are UV-stable and follow industry standards.

Added Fiber Reinforcement

Each bag of Ultra-M1x has one pound of UltraFiber 500 included. This is what really makes Ultra-M1x unique. UltraFiber 500 is a cellulose microfiber. Fiber reinforcement reduces plastic shrinkage cracking and makes concrete perform better. UltraFiber 500 finishes better than the synthetic fibers you are probably used to. Anyone that has used polypropylene fiber should recognize the defects it can cause. UltraFiber does not have these same problems. It is invisible in concrete and does not leave the same hairs on the surface of the concrete. UltraFiber also takes on color, so it blends in with colored concrete.

integral color with fiber — *The fiber in Ultra-M1x reduces shrinkage cracking without causing visual defects.*

Decorative concrete contractors want their work to look perfect. UltraFiber helps with this. It reduces surface cracks. It does not cause other visual defects, either. This makes UltraFiber the best fiber for decorative concrete. Including UltraFiber in Ultra-M1x makes sure you get all of these benefits with your colored concrete.

Consistency and Simplicity

This new combination of color and fiber makes it easier to be consistent. The “one bag per yard” system makes dosing color as easy as possible. Adding fiber into the bag removes this variable, too. Since the fiber is already dosed at one pound per yard, you don’t need to worry about adding that separately or having the ready mix producer add it. This ensures every pour has the right coloring and the right amount of fiber.

Color Selection

Ultra-M1x comes with twenty standard colors. These colors include a range of classic earth tones that will suit any project. This selection also has reds for brick pattern stamps, grays for slate textures and stone stamps, and even green. Each of these colors works with Brickform Antique Release colors and other products. You can even accent Ultra-M1x colors with Brickform stains. Ultra-M1x has the right color for all sorts of stamped concrete, smooth finish, and exposed aggregate finishes.

European Fan Stamped Concrete — *Ultra-M1x is ideal for stamped concrete and compatible with Antique Release and Brickform stains for further color enhancement.*

Why Use Ultra-M1x?

“One bag per yard” systems have been gaining in popularity because they are easier, reduce the likelihood of mistakes, and reduce the amount of work needed to get colored concrete. These systems are especially good when applicators have a lack of experience which would make calculating dosages more challenging. On a fast-paced jobsite, anything you can do to simplify the process saves time and money. It also reduces the chances for costly mistakes.

Bagged concrete color is something contractors can add on the jobsite. This makes it possible to get colored concrete even when your ready mix producer doesn’t offer it. That is the unique value bagged color offers. It gives more control to the decorative concrete contractor. It allows him to buy color with the rest of his materials and supplies. Bagged color is also a benefit to dealers and ready mix producers that want to sell colored concrete materials but don’t do the kind of volume that would justify a color dispenser.

UltraFiber 500 normally comes in two forms. It comes in easy-to-use one-pound bags and one-and-a-half-pound bags. This makes it simple to add the correct dosage of fiber at the jobsite. UltraFiber also comes in bulk containers and is dosed by automated dispensers. This is ideal for high volume and specification-driven applications at ready mix plants. Now, with the introduction of Ultra-M1x, UltraFiber comes in a third convenient form. Premixed with color, it takes the convenience of a “one bag per yard” system even further. Instead of having to remember to add the correct number of pigment bags and the correct number of fiber bags, you only need to add a single bag of color and fiber per yard.

All of this comes together to make a super convenient way to improve your concrete. Ultra-M1x makes your concrete look better. It also makes your concrete perform better. Both of these are important when you’re doing decorative concrete. The standards are higher, and the customer expects a greater level of workmanship.

Ultra-M1x vs Others

How does Ultra-M1x compare to other integral colors from Solomon Colors? The other integral color products we offer are ColorFlo Liquid, ColorFlo Granular, Solomon Dry Integral Color, and Brickform Powdered Integral Color. Ultra-M1x is most like Solomon Dry and Brickform Powdered colors. All three are bagged, powdered integral color that come in dissolving bags. Solomon Dry Color comes in 6.25 pound and 25 pound bags. Brickform Powdered Color comes in a single standard weight. Both Solomon Dry and Brickform Powdered colors require dosage calculations. Depending on the shade and bag weight, it may call for one bag for multiple yards or multiple bags per yard. This allows these products to offer a much wider range of colors with fewer base colors. Brickform Powdered Color, for example, offers 44 colors with only 12 base colors. Solomon Dry Color can make 48 colors from 16 base colors.

With Ultra-M1x, you trade color choice for convenience and ease of use. 20 base colors of Ultra-M1x make only 20 final colors. However, we have carefully chosen the most popular colors on the market. Most decorative concrete jobs will fall within one of these shades. Unlike other “one bag per yard” systems, Ultra-M1x has UltraFiber 500 included. This is different from the other Solomon Colors powdered color systems, too. The cellulose fiber is easily what makes Ultra-M1x the most exciting new coloring product on the decorative concrete market.