2015 Commercial Winner
Desco was contacted to rescue a polished concrete floor after the original installer failed to meet the owner’s expectations. The floor for the commercial office was originally to be dyed black with an acetone based dye and polished to expose minimal aggregate. However, the original installer failed to apply the dye and sealer correctly and the owner was not satisfied with the consistency of the black staining. Desco was brought onto the project to repair the unacceptable floor. Desco discussed with the owner why the black floor color was originally chosen. The prior polishing contractor convinced the owner the color would look great in the space. Desco discussed the many shortcomings of having such a dark floor, including the challenges of keeping a black floor clean. Desco convinced the owner to go with no black dye in the polished retrofit.
Desco was able to allocate sufficient resources to the project immediately and start the project the same day they were contacted by having a robust inventory of grinding equipment and a large library of polishing diamonds. The project management team at Desco was able to provide various same day options directly to the owner in order to complete the scope of work in a timely manner.
To determine how deep of a cut would be required to remove all of the existing black dye, Desco did a mock-up in one of the offices. The sample also helped to give an accurate estimate to the client as to what was required in terms of financial costs and time to achieve their desired depth of cut, sheen, and clarity. It was determined that the best course of action would be to remove the sealer and dye by grinding the concrete to expose large aggregate. By using large planetary head grinders and smaller edging equipment, Desco was able to quickly remove the black dye completely and expose natural colored concrete with large aggregate showing.
The floor was grouted with an environmentally friendly acrylic based grout that filled the small surface voids when mixed with recycled site grinding dust. The grouting enabled us to meet the client’s expectations on clarity and visual aesthetics.
The control joints were filled full depth with black polyurea elastomer joint filler which was chosen to highlight the existing black accents in the interior.
The concrete polishing was scheduled as one of the last trades for this project. All of the walls were painted and all of the doors were installed. Desco spent a significant amount of time to provide protective temporary coverings to protect all of the existing finishes.
Product Spec Sheets
Convergent Concrete Technologies Pentra-Finish