Architectural Concrete
Decorative Concrete Panels
Two ways to make a concrete wall interesting — a solid relief panel or an open lattice. They solve different problems.
"Decorative concrete panel" covers two genuinely different products, and people arrive at Miami Stone Veneer Specialists asking for one when they want the other about half the time. This page is the fork in the road.
Solid relief panels
A moulded concrete face — geometric, organic, or textured — applied to a wall that's already there. It's a finish. It goes up like heavy tile on lath and scratch coat, it doesn't need an engineer, and it doesn't need a permit in most residential cases.
Choose this when the wall already exists and the problem is that it's boring. Lobby feature walls, TV walls, restaurant interiors, facades that need articulation.
Open lattice screens
Hollow blocks laid up with mortar to build a wall that you can partly see through. It's not a finish, it's masonry. Footing, reinforcement above about six feet, and in a hurricane zone, an engineer.
Choose this when you need to divide space, get privacy without a solid barrier, or shade glass while keeping airflow. Courtyard walls, pool screens, car park facades, restaurant dividers.
Deciding in one question
Ask whether there's already a wall there.
- Yes, and it's dull — relief panel. Cheaper, faster, no structural work.
- No, and I need something between here and there — lattice. It builds the wall and decorates it in one move.
- There's a wall but it's blocking a breeze I want — lattice, as a replacement section. This is common on Miami courtyards where a solid block wall turned a patio into an oven.
Cost, honestly compared
Relief panels run $14 to $26 per square foot in material, installed onto an existing wall for roughly another $12 to $20.
Lattice blocks run $9 to $22 per piece. A 100 square foot screen wall is roughly 150 standard blocks, plus footing, reinforcement, and a mason. It is almost always the more expensive route — and frequently the right one anyway, because a relief panel can't do what it does.
Technical specification
| Compressive strength | 200–250 kg/cm² |
|---|---|
| Body | Grey and white cement, standard and premium grades |
| Colour | Stock colourways plus custom colour matching |
| Finish | Through-coloured, sealed on request |
| Suitable substrates | CMU, poured concrete, brick, stucco, and framed walls over lath |
| Fire | Non-combustible concrete body |
| Exposure | Interior and exterior, above and below grade |
| Coastal use | Rated for salt-air exposure with a penetrating sealer |
| Relief panel depth | 3/8" to 2⅜" |
| Lattice depth | Typically 3⅛" |
| Relief panel install | Applied finish over an existing wall |
| Lattice install | Laid as masonry with mortar and reinforcement |
Full spec sheets and dimensioned drawings are available for submittals — ask and they'll be emailed the same day.
Where this gets used
The applications this range is specified for most often in South Florida.
Interior Accent Walls
Miami condo owners can't touch the exterior, so the accent wall does the work. Lightweight formats that go over drywall without structural changes.
View details →Commercial Facades
Commercial work runs on submittals and delivery dates. We supply to schedule, with samples and spec sheets your architect can drop straight into the package.
View details →Hotel Lobbies
A lobby has about four seconds to say what the property costs. Large-format stone and deep-relief panels are how that gets said.
View details →Feature Walls
When the wall is the point. Deep-relief panels, lattice screens, and large-format stone specified for maximum effect.
View details →Common questions
What's the actual difference between a relief panel and a lattice? +
A relief panel is solid — it's a decorative face applied to a wall that already exists. A lattice is open and it *is* the wall, laid as masonry with mortar and reinforcement. One is a finish, the other is structure. That difference drives cost, install, permitting, and everything else.
Which is cheaper? +
Relief panels, usually, once you count everything. They go on an existing wall like heavy tile. A lattice screen needs a footing, reinforcement, and often an engineer's sign-off, so the material price is only part of the number.
Can I use both on the same project? +
It's one of the better moves available. A solid relief panel on the house, a lattice screen defining the courtyard — same concrete, same colour, two different jobs. The scheme reads as one material rather than a collection of finishes.
Do either of them need maintenance? +
Rinse them occasionally. Seal exterior installations at install and again every seven to ten years. Lattices collect leaves in the voids on a garden wall, which is a broom problem rather than a maintenance problem.
Need a price on decorative concrete panels?
Send your square footage and we'll come back with a number, a stock position, and a delivery date for Miami.