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You’ve heard of densifiers. But let’s face it — much of what you’ve heard about them to date has come from densifier manufacturers.
From the playground to the locker room, decorative concrete is inspiring teachers and school administrators across the country.
Surfacing Solutions Inc., Temecula, Calif., got a refresher on one central principle of polished concrete as the company produced some 175,000 square feet of densified concrete floor surfaces at the glittering new San Marcos High School in Southern California.
The Perot Museum of Nature and Science, which opened Dec. 1 of last year, is billed as providing visitors with a living science lesson full of hands-on learning experiences.
This mission extends to the building structure itself, by way of the concrete.
Three of the nation’s most beloved sports franchises - the New York Yankees, Indianapolis Colts and Dallas Cowboys - embraced decorative concrete when they built their new homes.
Surface preparation is the crucial beginning stage of any concrete polishing process. It is especially important in old office buildings, warehouses or department stores where tile or carpeting once covered the flooring, leaving behind residue that must be removed before applying an overlay or polishing. Photo courtesy of Stoops Freightliner
This complex interior treatment pairs a multihued pattern of polished concrete with natural river-stone borders and detailing.
How long is a set of diamonds supposed to last? Or more to the point, what kind of square footage can I expect out of a set of diamonds?
In management or leadership training classes worldwide, you can learn about the five Ps for success: “Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance.” I think these Ps can apply to polished concrete projects as well. There are several specific planning items that can be addressed that will help any polish project be successful.
There are new profit opportunities in polished concrete for the decorative concrete contractor. This is a fact, and every decorative concrete contractor should look into polished concrete. However, nothing ever caused more people to go broke than too much optimism and too little planning.
Choosing the right manufacturer is a dilemma every contractor in our industry faces every day. I’ve heard many analogies used to describe the decorative concrete industry over the years, but two comparisons have always resonated the most: “Polished Concrete is part Art and part Construction,” and “The polishing industry is still the Wild West.”
At Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee, speed alone isn’t the magnet that draws stock-car racing fans to the track’s major racing events.
I would bet that when you think about concrete, humor is not the first word that comes to mind. Then again, you aren’t Gordon Young.
Curing is an integral part of the concrete placement process. When portland cement and water mix, they activate a process called “hydration.”
Is the solution to polished concrete maintenance educating the customer on proper procedures, or is it developing better sealers to provide the customer?
A Tuscaloosa, Ala., company landed the contract to polish some 12,000 square feet of concrete poured as part of a major renovation to the US Space & Rocket Center, which serves as home to the internationally known Space Camp for bright and cosmically focused kids.
Once upon a time, there was a polished concrete job that was easy. It started out with a new, flawless install, a clean, even slab ready to grind. The client closed the building for a few days, providing ample, uninterrupted time to do the job. There were no hurdles. There were no surprises. Everything went according to plan.
Recently an architect who was writing the polished concrete specification for a school district contacted me when he recognized that he did not know enough. The good news is that he asked for help in crafting an informative and realistic specification that allows educated bids with room for profit.
There’s a brew-ha-ha over craft beers these days. And no wonder — with an average of 1.5 breweries opening daily, according to the Brewers Association in Boulder, Colorado, it’s not a stretch to say new ones are popping up faster than a fresh keg can be tapped.
Polishing concrete, not unlike other new industries, begged, borrowed and stole from others in its infancy. Equipment came from the surface prep, stone restoration and cleaning industries, and as one can imagine, nothing was a perfect fit. It is still evolving today, but here is a look at where it came from.
Correctly estimating the thickness needed to get the job done right is one of the biggest issues a contractor faces when applying a polishable overlay.
Many years in the making and rigorously reviewed by dozens of experts in the field, the much-anticipated 310R-13 Guide to Decorative Concrete was officially published by the American Concrete Institute in December 2013.
A huge national remodeling project for the department store chain has kept concrete polishing contractors busy this year.
In this outdoors construction project, weather was always going to be a factor. Considering the sensitive nature of the walls, precautions for polishing under certain wet or temperature conditions was critical to achieving desired results.
What do you do when your client asks for polished concrete walls? Not many contractors have responded to that request in the affirmative so far, but some are starting to ask, “Why not?”
