[Greenbuilding] Redoing all floors

Lynelle Hamilton lynelle at lahamilton.com
Wed Jul 27 20:40:07 CDT 2011


A few observations.  I also have concrete as my finished floor. They 
were not without problems in finishing, and I had a guy who was 
honourable and experienced with all aspects except mechanical polishing 
(at which he was new).

First, there is a white undercoat that can be used here as a base coat 
over concrete to make for a lighter overall colour.   This type of 
finish has a coat of colour applied over it and then a sealer. The white 
undercoat is optional. My first set of concrete floors (in my last 
house) were finished without the white, but with the stain and sealer, 
then burnished.  We had to wait a minimum of 30 days to apply the stain 
, and that was in August. I certainly had colour variation (looked like 
an old leather bomber jacket), but no white whatsoever and no lifting of 
any stain or finish.

In my current house, I opted for grinding/stain/sealer/mechanical 
polishing.  It yields an entirely different finish--sort of like the old 
granite stairs in my high school (not exactly a positive memory, but I 
got over it).  We had problems with the finish taking, even though we 
did the grinding and stain 3 months after the pour.  We had to grind the 
floors twice--once before the first stain and then again to take it 
off,  The second stain looked beautiful but was ruined by an overzealous 
burnishing (by the grinding machine company rep!).  We then followed 
what Jason suggested...stripped chemically and reapplied the stain and 
sealer.  The results are beautiful.  I had some minor fissures, but we 
filled these and they are not noticeable.  The grinding created a 
horrible mess here, but I did get through it and (now) would say it was 
worth the hassle.

I'd do what you need to do to get rid of the current finish and start 
again.I wouldn't cover it with anything....you'll pay more and 
ultimately lose mass with anything but tile. If you're like me, the look 
of tile wouldn't cut it either.

My 2 cents' worth (2.12 cents' worth American these days! ;-) )

Lynelle

On 27/07/2011 7:04 PM, Bob Klahn wrote:
> On 7/27/2011 6:34 PM, Ktot (g) wrote:
>> Also can you explain more about shot blasting? You say it's more 
>> cost-effective, but how does it compare to grinding as far as time 
>> involved, how much it's going to totally mess up my house, etc.?
>
> I don't deal with concrete much, but I do know that a variation of 
> shot-blasting, using small beads of frozen CO2 works wonders in other 
> kinds of abrasive cleaning.  Much the same as standard shot blasting, 
> albeit somewhat less abrasive, it has the advantage of thermal 
> abrasion and the pellets evaporate, reducing clean up.
>
> I can't say that it's applicable on concrete, but I'd be surprised if 
> ti didn't have some application.
>
> Bob Klahn
>
>
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-- 
Effective immediately, please use the following e-mail address to reach 
me: lynelle at lahamilton.com




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