The Art Beneath Your Feet

Architects and designers choose polished concrete for museum floors for a modern, clean look that doesn't overpower the true focus of the facility.

January 10, 2012

Concrete polishing contractor Sustainable Flooring Solutions of Vancouver, Wash., used a seven-step polishing sequence on the 80-year-old concrete slab at the Valley Art Association Gallery in Forest Grove, Ore. Project size: 4,000 square feet. Key products and equipment: HTC grinder, SASA Company abrasives, Lythic Solutions densifier.

Concrete polishing contractor Sustainable Flooring Solutions of Vancouver, Wash., used a seven-step polishing sequence on the 80-year-old concrete slab at the Valley Art Association Gallery in Forest Grove, Ore. Project size: 4,000 square feet. Key products and equipment: HTC grinder, SASA Company abrasives, Lythic Solutions densifier.

Levelset Payment Speed

The Key to Faster Construction Payment: Better Communication

Most recent Levelset survey of contractors suggests the three biggest factors helping contractors get paid faster boil down to communication: expectations, status and timelines

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10 Hottest Construction Stories This Week: Cummins EPA 2021 X12 and X15 Engines Use Less Fuel

Most-read construction stories include Caterpillar and PAC-MAN rolling out a new game, a test of orange pavement markings in work zones, new Cat S42 rugged smartphone withstands submerged scrubbing and more

Only OSHA Approved Safety Cap for COLUMN BASES & STEEL STAKES

Only OSHA Approved Safety Cap for COLUMN BASES & STEEL STAKES

Prevent Injuries & Impalement on Jobsites. Learn More

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Research Says Self-healing Concrete Market Size Worth $305 Billion in 7 Years

A report by Grand View Research Inc. shows the global self-healing concrete market is expected to reach USD $305.38 billion by 2027.

The One South First (Domino Sugar) project was a 42-story commerical/residential building featuring punched window openings - demonstrating an important advancement in the use of 3D-printed forms.

The Winner of the PCI Sidney Freedman Craftsmanship Award

The Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute announced the winner of the ninth annual Sidney Freedman Craftsmanship Award - The Gate Precast Company for Domino Sugar (New York City) project

When you mix high dosage levels of macro fibers in concrete, one of challenges is to achieve a good blending between concrete and fiber.

How High Dosage Levels of Macro Fibers Are Improving Concrete Slabs

Slab-on-grade floor and pavement panels shrink less and have almost no curl.

When removing wooden floors, contractors should use a scarifier equipped with a cutting blade to make cuts across the surface.

How Does It Come Off? Tips and Tricks for Hard Goods Flooring Removal

Hard goods such as wood, laminate flooring, ceramic tiles and quarry tiles are usually applied directly to a concrete floor using adhesives.

Brickform Refresh.

Brickform Refresh

Recolor and restore concrete with Brickform Refresh. Brickform Refresh is a solvent based penetrating, polysiloxane stain with excellent water repellency to be used for re-coloring and sealing exterior concrete surfaces.

SASE Trifecta Diamond Pads.

SASE Trifecta Diamond Pads

SASE Trifecta Diamond pads mount to a high speed burnisher to restore shine or burnish in guard.

Pecora-Deck HB1000 Series.

Pecora-Deck HB1000 Series

Pecora’s full line of traffic coatings protect wearing surfaces like concrete or plywood from vehicular and pedestrian traffic abrasion.

Ameripolish SmartFloor Refinement System.

Ameripolish Smartfloor Refinement System

The SmartFloor Refinement System concept is engineered to provide a high-aesthetic floor that is an easy and economical way to utilize any polishing machines, including power trowels.

Rockett's glass overlay.

Rockett's Glass Overlay

Rockett’s Polished Overlay is a patent-pending process creating high-impact, enduring decorative polished concrete floors and installations.

Smith FS351 DCS Electric Self-Propelled Scarifier.

Smith FS351 DCS Electric Self-Propelled Scarifier

Smith's FS351 DCS series of heavy-duty, self-propelled drum scarifiers are designed to tackle the most demanding removal and surface preparation jobs.

Make sure you have a marketing plan in place to help focus your marketing efforts, suggests L.M. Scofield's Cam Villar. Whether in depth or simple, make sure to at least include the market you want to serve and who your target audience will be.

Marketing Polished and Stained Decorative Concrete Floors

When it comes to marketing polished or stained decorative concrete floors contractors should focus on promoting the benefits as well as the aesthetics.

Pictured here is a warehouse/distribution center application using a lithium siliconate densifier.

Densifiers Demystified

A concrete densifier is a chemical solution that, when applied to a concrete surface, increases surface density by sealing pores.

New admixtures for control flow concrete

New admixtures for control flow concrete

CONCERA® admixtures enable the production of control flow concrete, allowing contractors to complete projects faster, while reducing labor costs and greenhouse gas emissions associated with the production of concrete.

Homeowners who build on concrete slabs can now achieve the look of wood thanks to Kasella's artistry. Grain design for each plank is applied by hand.

Polished Concrete Plus Creates Wood Grain Finishes

When placing concrete began to take its toll on Jeff Kasella’s body, he found a way to add beauty to the slabs others placed.

The Moscone Center improvements, specifically with regard to the polished concrete scope, in San Francisco, California is a lesson to specifications that don’t always meet owner expectations and how a great general contractor, great architect, and an experienced concrete subcontractor can communicate and come together to drive the project in a successful direction for all parties.

The Gestation of a Polished Concrete Project

The Moscone Center improvements, specifically to the polished concrete scope, is a lesson to specifications that don’t always meet expectations but how communication between parties can drive the project in a successful direction for all parties.

Scaling, above, and premature surface wear typically occur when contractors mix bleedwater into the surface or trap bleedwater and air directly beneath the surface.

Avoid Surface Defects on Exterior Slabs

The proper finishing techniques will help you avoid defects like premature wear, scaling, mortar flaking and plastic-shrinkage cracking.

When slabs on ground are polished, non-uniform exposure of aggregate is a result of high spots cause by slab curling. Deflection of many suspended slabs exceeds the upward movement at curled slabs, so polishing may result in even larger areas that exhibit such non-uniform aggregate exposure.

Why Polishing Suspended Concrete Slabs is More Likely to Disappoint Customers

Polished-concrete specifications are based on experience with slabs-on-grade, so contractors must help project owners understand how results will likely vary when polishing suspended slabs

In high-racking warehouses, factories, and industrial facilities, floor flatness and levelness (FF/FL) can be a make-or-break issue, affecting the very performance of the building for its intended use.

Floor Flatness and Levelness in Modern Construction

Performing floor quality assurance in house, rather than outsourcing, can reduce project wait times.

In order to achieve the desired polished concrete finish on this lobby floor, Concrete Flooring Solutions used CTS Cement Rapid Set TRU Self-Leveling product to bring an overpoured floor back to its specified recessed depth.

Self-Leveling Topping Corrects Concrete Floor Overpour on Polishing Job

CTS Cement's Rapid Set TRU Self-Leveling topping helped a contractor bring an overpoured concrete floor back to specification in order to achieve the desired polished-concrete surface

Restraightening will cut down high spots and fill low spots; it can increase FF numbers from about 30 to 50 percent.

How to Finish Flatter Concrete Floors

Proper concrete finishing tools and techniques will help you increase your FF numbers so that placing very flat and super flat floors becomes routine

Unless a contractor specializes in floor projects, it can be cost-prohibitive to own concrete grinders and scarifiers that are not used frequently.

How Renting Grinders and Scarifiers Can Save Money, Time

Unless a contractor specializes in floor projects, it can be cost-prohibitive to own concrete grinders and scarifiers that are not used frequently.

To keep pace with the growing demand for ACI-certified personnel on various concrete construction projects, ACI has launched the ACI Certification Verify app to help supervisors verify the status of ACI-certified individuals on a jobsite.

ACI Expands Certification Offerings, Launches App

The American Concrete Institute (ACI) announced the addition of several new certification programs, marking a total of more than 30 certification program offerings now available.

CTS Rapid Set TRU Self-Leveling Overlay is a hydraulic cement-based, self-leveling topping, re-surfacer and underlayment for both indoor and outdoor jobsites. The product cures to a light off-white color. It is ideal for floors that are stained, integrally colored, and those with decorative embedded aggregate flooring.

Things to Consider When Choosing a Concrete Overlay

When considering if an overlay is right for your client it's important to paint wide strokes of possibilities, but root expectations in the complexities of the install.

This sealer was over applied. It should have been applied 1 to 2 mils thick, but was likely 20 to 30 mils thick.

'Thin to Win' With Decorative Concrete Sealers

Thin applications are the simple answer to many acrylic sealer problems contractors face on decorative concrete projects like stamped and stained concrete.