[Greenbuilding] Redoing all floors

Ktot (g) ktottotc at gmail.com
Wed Jul 27 22:32:09 CDT 2011


I'm not real clear what you're suggesting when you say you wouldn't cover it 
with anything. You mean not anything but concrete stain or grinding? Or you 
only recommend grinding?

I have a contractor coming out next week with a grinding/polishing company 
rep, as apparently the technique the contractor is familiar with won't work 
in my house (he believes) but the rep says there's a new technique that may 
work in my house. That said, I cannot go through all the hassles and time 
your floors apparently took. I built this new house after a total fire loss 
when I was out of state for several weeks last year. The stress of moving to 
a new part of my property (for better sun and wind, and more), getting not 
just a new house built but also a new access road, well, septic, solar/wind, 
etc., and undergoing a winter build in a very cold climate in the mountains 
was more stress than I ever want to go through again. I could not handle 
having to move out for several months, redoing the floor several more times, 
etc.--as it sounds like might be required with the grinding/polishing 
technique. As I mentioned in my original post, I need flooring that 1) 
provides thermal mass, 2) is durable, 3) works with radiant heat, 4) is easy 
to maintain, 5) will be relatively easy to put in over the defective 
concrete, 6) fits in with the contemporary/nature style of my house. (I 
realize this list doesn't exactly match what I put in the first email.) So 
far only porcelain or natural stone tile seems to fit the bill, but if 
anyone has any other suggestions, please let me know. (I'm turning away from 
natural stone as it apparently scratches and I have dogs, plus much of it is 
irregular so may be hard to keep clean.)

Also one additional thought: the master bedroom and bathroom don't need 
thermal mass as they're on the north and west sides of the house with 
minimal windows, so if anyone can recommend something that would look good 
with tile elsewhere (if I go that route) and meet requirements 2-6 above, 
let me know that as well. I've been thinking of keeping everything the same 
material, but that probably isn't really necessary.

Or am I misunderstanding your comments, Lynelle?

Regardless, I've seen a lot of porcelain tile patterns (in large squares, 
not just 12x12) that look great on floors. And after my concrete fiasco I 
tend to like the idea of knowing what I'll be getting--though some of the 
tiles do come with tremendous variety in their tiles.

One other problem with concrete is finding a good contractor. I've met with 
many, many and really am not impressed with most who are interested in my 
job (a few live a couple or more hours away and don't want to come this 
far)--for various reasons. In contrast, the tile people seem to really know 
what they're doing. Or maybe I'm just too skittish after the concrete 
fiasco. I had really trusted the couple I went with, in part due to her 
creative/artistic bent. I haven't found similar creativity/artistry in any 
of the other concrete people.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Lynelle Hamilton" <lynelle at lahamilton.com>
To: "Green Building" <greenbuilding at lists.bioenergylists.org>
Sent: Wednesday, July 27, 2011 8:40 PM
Subject: Re: [Greenbuilding] Redoing all floors


>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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