[Greenbuilding] Redoing all floors

[JOHN SALMEN]

I would agree though I think diamond grinding would be the best surface
finish result and even that... 

It is a shame. I've seen very few really good floors and even in the most
high end projects and I have heard of a lot of disappointment. Typically
most have imperfection upon imperfection. Badly placed control joints
(cracking)  + badly polished areas + badly finished areas + badly sealed
floors which over time without further sealing can make everything even
worse.  

 

I think the problem is that a design may seem to require a slab so the
concept is finishing the slab as a finished floor.  That seems fair enough
but then you start mixing structural with finish and the complexity builds
as you are mixing trades and experience.   When I used it the purpose was to
create a floor structure and finished floor in one go. Metal or tile inlays
were used to create control joints and visual keys (things you look at
rather than the rest of the floor).  We have had some pretty nice results
but the work involved to create I felt could be done better with less
material or cost so I stopped using slabs. Even for on grade construction I
don't think they are needed or desirable.  You can get better results
treating the floor finish as finish - small mortar slabs if you want the
concrete look or whatever floor finish might work but isolate it from the
insulation and support base.

 

 

 

 

From: greenbuilding-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org
[mailto:greenbuilding-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of Andrew
Pace
Sent: July-27-11 12:50 PM
To: Green Building
Subject: Re: [Greenbuilding] Redoing all floors

 

Jason...acid etching the concrete won't remove the sealer and paint stripper
won't remove the stain.  Acid etching only works when the acid has "access"
to the free lime in the concrete.  The sealer...seals it...so this isn't an
option.  The stain should be in the concrete and not on top of it, so
stripping wont be effective.  The only way to remove the sealer and stain
would be to shot blast.  

Andrew Pace
Green Design CenterR 
Waukesha, WI




On 7/27/11 2:36 PM, "Jason Holstine" <jason at amicusgreen.com> wrote:

Can you etch the concrete to remove the current sealer, strip the stain with
paint stripper, let the concrete properly dry and cure, then go back and
stain and refinish?

Also - any concrete will naturally have a certain unpredictability in the
finish pattern, with random burnishing and highs and lows of color. So I
typically recommend take advantage of that, fly with it, and stain with a
creative, random, very cool stain pattern. You won't know what's mistake/old
mess-up and what's intentionally part of the pattern.

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